> .
>
> In a commercial setting once the bees go off feed my current policy is to
> depopulate the hive (as the bees are most often  carrying high spore loads.
> Maybe as high as 5 million spores


This is interesting, Bob, as spore loads (of foragers) of 5M (of
N ceranae) would not be considered high by some successful commercial
beeks.  In my own test yards, spore loads of that level do not appear to
affect either colony survival nor honey production.  I have no reason
whatsoever to doubt your observations, so am still curious as to why such
loads are a problem in your situation, but not out here in Calif.

BTW, Pajuelo and Orantes Bermejo in Spain found that levels in the 3M range
had no apparent effect upon colonies in their studies.  In general, reports
from other researchers in various countries appear to support this
observation.

It appears to me that there must be some other factor in addition to N
ceranae to cause colony failure.  I suspect that N ceranae is a player, but
doesn't do the dirty work alone.

Randy Oliver

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