>Mysterious mortality perplexing apiarists

These type reports from the media always keep the issue alive but lack the
details for others which have been through similar issues to help with a
cause.

Hives full of honey without brood is a strong indicator of severe nosema
ceranae issues and easily seen *if* those looking had been called in in time
to look.

Same with high varroa infestation.

I see many cases where the commercial beekeeper quickly buys queens and
splits without attempting to determine what killed his bees.

Never a good thing and many times those beeks soon see a repeat issue. ( 
personal observation)

The typical answer from most researchers is rather generic ( as in the
article) when those asked to help figure out what caused the loss simply
rattle off all the same *possible* causes over and over again.

This article seems to me to lay the most blame on high varroa load and
nosema ceranae.

Interestingly so did the CCD working group when they found nosema ceranae
and KBV (spread by mites) in 100% of the samples.

Beekeepers from all over the U.S. still report losses similar to those in
the report but tell me calls to the USDA fail to get a researcher to come
and take samples or even to advise other than telling the same *possible*
causes as in the current article.

In the U.S. there seems to be two kinds of commercial beekeepers. Those
which have solved their bee loss and those still seeing die offs. Those with
strong hives with few losses are making a bunch of money selling bees to
beeks like in the article. I do not know what the successful beeks are doing
(or have learned) but what I observe.

Some beeks came out of almonds with the worst bees in years and others the
best bees in years.

Not what we used to see. Before the crash of 06 the majority of beeks going
to almonds had either good bees or poor bees coming out of almonds and the
reasons for were easily seen.
Not so today.

It is really hard to figure out as I am not as active as in years past but
it seems those seeing problems are seeing huge die offs and those with the
best bees report the best bees in years. Rumor says a method for controlling
midgut issues has been found .

I agree with researchers that mites plus nosema C. is a deadly mix and many
have said to me personally that you do not have to control both but you need
to control one or the other to keep losses low. Myself and my friends try
hard to control both but at times one or the other gets out of hand.
As long as one level is low huge losses seem to not happen.
However winter loss in the Midwest remains quite a bit higher than a decade 
ago even with the best beeks.

bob

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