?Jerry said: The researchers may > not agree upon the significance of finding Nosema in virtually all CCD > operations, but we can agree to it being more common to CCD colonies than > varroa. > > I was on the phone for over an hour with a high up person in the American Beekeeping Federation. tonight We covered quite a few topics. What I find interesting he has never had a nosema issue and said he only lost four hives out of 280 + hives when he checked last week. He keeps his hives away from other beekeepers hives in range country and said his hive kill problems started when he sent hives to almonds and ended a couple years after he quit going. He only uses thymol for varroa. I believe what he says as we have been friends for years but I always remind my friend how rare his situation is compared to the other commercial beekeepers I talk to. I fight nosema ceranae constantly it seems. I saw the tell tale signs in some hives I looked at today. Hives fed fumigillin last fall. When I check I always find spore counts high. It is my opinion based on years of experience that today's fumigillin as per label (in syrup) only knocks back nosema ceranae for a short period in some hives. other hives the counts go down and stay down. When I used the fumigillin drench I had better luck and saw the problem almost go away but now I am seeing high spore counts and bees going off feed in early spring again. When checking the problem seems confined to hives which have not been into the shop as a deadout and given the Clorox treatment. I wonder why some operations struggle with nosema issues and others (like my ABF friend) have no problems. I have moved my yards in full sun but still see the problem. I am considering returning to a drench for a couple treatments. Unlike many I have no varroa issues but it seems nosema ceranae keeps popping back up. what are your thoughts Jerry? The above similar to what others are reporting? bob *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at: http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm