In California, long before varroa, my rule of thumb for taking hives to
almonds was to assume taking only 2/3rds of my August colony count to
almonds the next February. So 33% "loss" has long been my working economic
model--even without the involvement of pesticides, varroa, DWV, or Nosema
ceranae. Has sustained me.
BTW, it wasn't that those colonies necessarily died. I mainly due to
combining the weaker ones in fall.
--
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com
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