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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Subject:
From:
Brian Ames <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 9 Mar 2010 10:53:09 -0500
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Jerry said "And, before anyone goes off on another rant against migratory beekeepers - we're looking at the possibility that the two-pathogen complex is relatively common; maybe hiding as a covert infection, among U.S. bee operations, with some external factor (we suspect weather, especially wet/damp) triggering expression." 

This is also consistent with my claims that the feedlot methods exacerbate the issue by spreading the pathogen efficiently. So as I have postulated here before "is it the pathogen or of the way we keep bees prior almonds"?  This would explain while CCD can be found in stationary operations we have no hard data that shows its much more then an isolated situation. 

and Jerry B. added  "Vancouver Island is a prime example of reports of strong bees in the  fall; 
now with fully collapsed, empty boxes (NO dead bees on the bottom  boards, 
usually ending with a queen and a small remnant of bees, or nothing at  
all)."  

as has been the case with CDD the headlines don't always match the reality. 

http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Vancouver+Island+beekeepers+warn+crisis/2660548/story.html

news article excerpt "He estimates there are between 2,000 and 3,000 colonies on the Island" 

and more "But Stan Reist, president of the B.C. Honey Producers Association, said a variety of factors contributed to the deaths -- including a late fall harvest that tires out the bees and the timing of pesticide treatments."  and "Meanwhile, in the Fraser Valley, where there are many large commercial apiaries, keepers are reporting that it looks like a stellar year for bees. If the beekeepers in the Fraser Valley and in the B.C. Interior have been so successful this year, then it gives hope that the problem in the Cowichan Valley is isolated, said provincial apiculturist Paul van Westendorp"

So again people on the ground are implying its a beekeeper interaction with late fall treatments and so on. We're familiar with this kind of scenario and to have this brought up as if its an example of stationary operations being susceptible to CCD looks like it is a faulty assertion. Really 2-3000 hives also is hardly a scientific sample that says anything about CCD spreading beyond almonds.  

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