> "There is a growing consensus that colony mortality is the product of
> multiple factors, both known and unknown, acting singly or in
> combination."

At first most commercial beeks believed the above. Today many believe the
only unknown could be a yet to be discovered virus ( or mutated virus)  but
still believe the only solution for virus is rigid mite control.

Little proof is found in the decades of virus  research of Bailey which says
virus is able *by itself* to crash whole yards of bees without high mite
infestation levels. In fact the virus research was only given minor
attention until mites came on the beekeeping scene.

Dr. Shiminuki was quick to name parasitic mite syndrome (PMS)  and explain
virus would not be an issue in our hives if we kept varroa loads low. Sure
Randy & I have seen virus issues in hives with low varroa loads but only in
my case in the last decade and healthy strong hives (sitting on the same
pallet) are unaffected.

In one case I saw a hive crash within hours of paralysis virus  . Bees could
not even hold onto frames. I left the hive to see if the problem would
spread but it did not. Bees did not rob I found when I came back but a
slight flow was on. I brought a frame of bees back to put in an observation
hive but the bees all died within a few hours. Every single bee. I consider
myself very lucky to have witnessed the issue. A couple researchers verified
what I had witnessed as virus.

One important thing I learned that day was that after the bees are dead the
beekeeper may not understand what happened unless samples are sent off.

Paralysis virus kills are unlike pesticide kills I have seen. The bees act
differently. Most beekeepers have witnessed few and some none as once the
bees have died only testing can explain the loss. The bees look like maggots
writhing  as they die.

 Today most believe the combination is issues with have dealt with before.
However the discovery of widespread nosema ceranae (NC) and NC replacing
nosema apis was big news. In fact most of us consider the discovery of NC in
our bees very helpful in keeping healthy bees.

Control mite levels and nosema ceranae spore levels is a first step in my
opinion to keeping healthy bees.

Buying packages or catching swarms to simply replace losses is the method
many hobby beeks survive. Commercial beekeepers for the most part are the
most focused on mite and disease control in my opinion. I gave a
presentation on nosema ceranae at a Kansas bee meeting and you could count
the numbers of beeks on one hand which had heard of nosema ceranae and NONE
tested for NC. Some fed fumigillin.

Timing is key to success today. My mite controls have been on my hives for
weeks.

 When hives are over varroa threshold they are *in my opinion* impossible to
save. I have been called in on many a case of beeks trying to save a hive
over threshold. The first case (many years ago)  was a beekeeper which was
trying to reuse apistan strips. The strips looked wrong to me but i had to
pry the fact the beekeeper had reused strips from the beekeeper. A fresh
apistan strip inserted overnight  filled the sticky boards but the hives
were way over threshold

All 13 hives had large amounts of brood , small clusters of bees (4-5 frames
in late fall) and a laying queen. I suggested depopulation but the beekeeper
purchased and installed fresh apistan strips. All hives were dead in a
couple weeks.

bob

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