On 26 Feb 2007 at 22:10, Gavin Ramsay wrote:


> 1. As far as I can tell, we are not having anything like
> this in the UK, though we must share some factors - such as
> imidacloprid use (which I have to say was the culprit I
> first thought about).  Is there anywhere in the world with
> something similar at the moment?  Any UK beekeepers care to
> correct me?
>Gavin

Hi

We lost about half our colonies in the 2004-05 Winter (out of 
about 35 colonies) with some of the CCD symptoms.  The 
colonies were just empty of bees, although stores of honey and 
pollen were present.  Some of the colonies concerned had been 
strong at the start of the Winter.  There was no abandoned brood 
that I recall.  The deaths were all in the winter period in the two 
months after Christmas.  There was some robbing of the empty 
colonies, but it was too cold for much bee activity.

I subsequently sterilised the combs and the  boxes with acetic 
acid and reused them-I got rid of all the black and ancient comb-
and have not, fingers crossed, had further problems with CCD 
subsequently.

At the time I assumed that the colonies had succumbed because 
of a reduced life of the bees associated with virus infections-
although that did not explain the total absence of bees..  The 
second half of the preceding Summer had been very poor with a 
lot of cold and wet days;  the bees were not in particularly top 
class condition going into the Winter.

Hope this may be of interest

Mike Rowbottom


HARROGATE
North Yorks 
UK

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