>
> Hi Michael!



> >And what about virus resistance. Are these dead colonies just more
> susceptable?
>

I went through another yard today.  Mostly busting strong colonies, thriving
under same conditions as lower survival yards.  In the last two yards I had
strong colonies next to deadouts.  All had looked similarly strong a few
weeks ago, and had similarly low mite levels.  In answer to your question,
yes, I'm guessing that some are more resistant to one or more viruses.  Dr.
Ilan Sela's work supports this.  I expect to have my bees sampled for
viruses soon.

One of my farmers commented (when I was dropping off yard rent) that he
noticed that I had far more dead bees in front of the colonies this year.
I've been noticing this, and was surprised that it was obvious enough for
him to see.

Something has been really different in my operation for the past three
years.  Far more dead bees in the yard, more unexplained deadouts, and lots
of strange diseases in the brood.  And I'm not using any harmful chemicals
or stressing the bees in any new way.

As Bob has commented, things are changing in the arena of bee health.
Nosema ceranae is part of it, but doesn't appear to be the only thing.  I'm
eager to see Jerry B get the IVDS machine, and really start investigating
viruses.  I'm wondering if IAPV is just one of several new ones.

Randy Oliver--survived the storm in the Sierra this week, power finally back
on.

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