Bob No, I'm not talking about Lance, nor many of the folks with CCD problems last year. Despite wishful thinking, Lance and Hackenberg aren't the only beekeepers with these problems. We've a new group of failing colonies in operations that did not have the problem last year, as well as at least two repeats. And, I just got an urgent phone call. Another east coast operation going down, hundreds of colonies lost. And, many of these were in the Dakotas earlier in the year. Your don't tell advice to beekeepers is fine, if you don't want to find a solution. Failing operations need to be sampled if we are ever to resolve this thing. I agree with a need for confidentiality. Outing individuals with problems serves no good purpose. Hiding the problem obstructs resolution. We've some NHB and Almond Board funds to look at CCD. Can't get all around the U.S., but we can pick and choose some operations to sample. We will look at a broad screening for virus, and we will be looking at in-hive chemicals. To all Bee-L readers - if you depend on your bees for your primary income and have been in the business for several years or more, and are having a problem with bees abandoning hives, please contact us. Jerry J.J. Bromenshenk Bee Alert Technology, Inc. 1620 Rodgers St, Suite 1 Missoula, MT 59802 406-541-3160 (business phone) P.S. Hope to see some of you at the Alabama bee meetings this week. ************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com ****************************************************** * Full guidelines for BEE-L posting are at: * * http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm * ******************************************************