Alright  let me make my observation a little more specific, and see if anyone is in the same category.  There's a lot of different idea's about cycles ,which is true,but i've went cold turkey by default ,intending to treat but waiting ,not wanting to use a treatment.   I can't  recall for sure about year 4,but for the last 3 years I have not treated with any antibiotic, not that I intended to stop yearly treatments, but I got off track the first year,didn't get a treatment on, didn't see any AFB , then just keep riding the wave so to speak.
 
I'm still not finding any, this year to date, and we've been in hives all spring and summer, splitting and feeding. 
 
The only two things that have been consistent, are a lot of losses to classic CCD, since the period which I was having losses and had David Hackenburgs bees here for a fall honey flow when all his losses started , and we've used between 1000 to 1500 Aussie queens the first 2 or 3 years of the onset of CCD.
 
This just got me thinking, much like all the sudden, CCD symptoms appeared suddenly and widespread, has anyone that has had CCD problems also noticed a disappearance of AFB  and has not been treating as they did also?? Or is this just a phenomenon that I should enjoy producing antibiotic free honey until I go back on the treatment program?
 
I spoke with David Hackenburg this morning and he said he only had a couple of cases that came with some bees which he had bought this year, but they have still been doing preventative treatments ,and they have replaced  a very large amount of comb and irradiated a large amount.
So with all those inputs I would expect levels to be non existent. 		 	   		  
             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html

Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at:
http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm