>The beekeepers who were doing a good job keeping mites under control
weren't experiencing the same problems.<

Randy  >I'm not sure that the above is true.  Many of us beekeepers and inspectors
were very familiar with the signs of colonies that had collapsed (or were
collapsing) due to varroa.  We were observing something else happening<

I agree with Randy. Like Randy, I kept bees for decades before, during, and after the introduction and establishment of tracheal and then varroa mites.  Mite induced colony collapses and/or absconding is not the same as what we saw with CCD.   Good Beekeeping wasn't the magic answer for avoiding what I saw through 2010.  I don't think it's a stretch to hypothesize that PPB doesn't help.

When I and my team inspected and sampled colonies collapsing in 2006, Christmas Eve week; we heard stories of the same disorder having occurred, but on a more localized region, in 2004.

As I saw and have stated, and as Randy saw - the 'true' CCD had every attribute of a contagious disease.  




Jerry



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