beekeepers with collapsing colonies are just rushing in,
> dumping on the packages.  I doubt most have any way of tracking.  They
> don't mark the hives,

True and usually most Aussie packages are being used by beekeepers which
have a history of hive problems.

There are some new beeks involved in serious losses this year which does
surprise me.

There are a few beekeepers which run the Aussies bees and like the Aussie
bees ( myself)  but most of the use is to drop packages in hives already in 
serious
trouble. Which is a poor test and can give the Aussie bees a bad rap.

From my investigation ( last Aussie article) the article  beeks are not 
seeing CCD.
Reason unknown. However the CCD team has presented a possible hypothesis (
most everything about CCD is hypothesis these days. Right?).

Since the Aussie bees have been living with IAPV for a very long time
without issue and the relationship between IAPV & CCD is not understood then
Penn. State suggested back when they felt IAPV might be a factor in CCD that
perhaps instead of stopping the import we breed from IAPV tolerant Aussie
bees.

Of course I have not seen any of the CCD described symptoms in my bees.
Commercial U.S. Italian or Aussie.

After a lifetime of beekeeping I see most bees (according to race such as
Italians, carniolans or Russians) similar to traits of the race. Unless the
beekeeper uses management to change the races normal behavior most behave a
certain way. I have a management technique for most things others do  not
like about the Italians but in my opinion there is no management technique
for a queen which shuts down with every change of the weather. Such races
are hard to keep in commercial beekeeping in my opinion.
They work fine for hobby but I count back say 8 weeks from a honey flow and 
use management techniques to assure at the start of the flow the bees are at 
maximum hive numbers. With the Italians I can be sure of getting the desired 
result. In the Midwest with other races I might or might not get the desired 
result. Carniolans are swarmy when pushed and the Russians always seem to 
shut down at times and come up short.
bob

I like big hives going into and out of winter. Big hives take more feed but
make wonderful hives to split in spring, pollinate apples and rarely  starve
*if* prepared properly for winter ( feed).

I see only small difference between the Aussie Italians and most U.S.
commercially sold Italians. The Aussie lines I use keep a smaller cluster
than my best Italian line and use less stores but will also be behind those
in spring by a couple frames of brood & bees.

My best Italian U.S. line will produce on average a super of honey extra
over the Aussie bees but there are plenty of exceptions.

bob

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