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["Wendy" <crazygardens AT verizon.net>]

This is interesting.  Last year I had no peppers.  Lots of blooms.  Most 
started to form peppers, but only got to be about the size of my thumbnail. 
Tomatoes did poorly too, small and lots of blossom end rot.  This sounds 
like a lack of bees to me.  I had my theories, though.  I know they aerial 
spray for mosquitoes around here and the mosquito spray they use is also a 
contact poison to bees and small birds.   Our local goldfinch populations 
have been devastated also.  Since the West Nile Virus scare, spraying has 
stepped up.  I would suggest that anyone who is experiencing a loss of bees 
to check out their local mosquito control program.

Wendy





> Wasn't there a thread begun recently about bee death? I thought this might 
> be of
> interest. I confess to chopping, clipping and amputating parts of it to 
> get rid
> of references to other lists (don't know if it's proper or allowed to 
> include all
> their details). I'd be glad to re-send it in its entirety if it's allowed, 
> and if
> anyone's interested.
>
> Sandy
>
> ------- Start of forwarded message -------
>
> There has been a considerable discussion and exchange of information and
> opinion on the beekeepers listserv, Bee-L, about the die back of honey
> bee colonies. I've pasted in below the text of a posting from Jerry
> Bromenshenk, of the University of Montana-Missoula, who is one of the
> leading researchers looking into the situation.
>
> It's also worth pointing out that this is a disorder that only seems to
> affect honey bees. I don't know if it affects feral honey bees (has
> anyone looked?). It doesn't seem to impact native bees. They have plenty
> of problems of their own, but this is one that appears, so far, to have
> missed them.
>
> Major losses have been seen in the U.S., starting in the
> spring in places like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa. Its still ongoing
> in Florida, with major losses occurring in Oklahoma, and a number of
> reports from California over the last few days.
>
> We are no longer calling this Fall Dwindle Disease -- its not a fall
> phenomenon when looked at across the nation, its a rapid collapse (often
> in less than 2-3 weeks), and it may or may not be a disease in the
> strictest sense. So, we're terming it Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).
>
> *CCD Symptoms*
> Based on initial visits to affected beeyards, the CCD drew up a list of
> the following symptoms, typical of the disorder:
> 1) In collapsed colonies,
>    a. The complete absence of adult bees in colonies, with no or little
> build up of dead bees in the colonies or in front of those colonies.
>    b. The presence of capped brood in colonies,
>    c. The presence of food stores, both honey and bee bread
>       i. which is not robbed by other bees, and
>       ii. when attacked by hive pests such as wax moth and small hive
> beetle, the attack is noticeably delayed (days, weeks)
> 2) In cases where the colony appear to be actively  collapsing
>    a. An insufficient workforce to maintain the brood that is present
>    b. The workforce seems to be made up of young adult bees
>    c. The queen is present
>    d. The cluster is reluctant to consume provided feed, such as sugar
> syrup and protein supplement
>
> Initial results from the online survey (http://www.beesurvey.com
> <http://www.beesurvey.com/>) has revealed that beekeepers think that
> this started at least 1-2 years ago, in its present form. As this list
> has mentioned, similar syndromes have been reported in the U.S., dating
> back to 1896. It certainly looks identical to the disorder reported by
> Oertel in 1965 (from bee losses in 63-64).
>
> Finally, if you've experienced this, please fill out the survey -
> regardless of how convinced you are that you know what caused it in your
> bees. Too many factors, too few returns to sort this out without the
> help of the nation's beekeepers.
>
> ------- End of forwarded message -------
>
> ___________________________________________
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>
> ------- End of forwarded message -------
>
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