From: Steve Bonney <sustainableearth.steve@verizon.net>
To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Bee shortage hypothesis
Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 22:55:27 -0400
Lon,
Your descriptions of honey bee losses are plausible, but do not fully
explain the current situation of colony collapse. The bees are gone and
honey remains in the hives. Two years ago I purchased nucs of bees that
were bred from colonies that survived the great losses due to varroa
mites over the past ten years. I lost all them during the winter of
2005-2006 even though the colonies where strong approaching winter. I
had a bee researcher at Purdue look at a couple of hives and he could
only surmise that the bees died from mites. However, he and I were both
baffled by the fact that, although all the bees were dead, there were
very few dead bees in the hives. I have no idea what is the cause, but
it is a situation that I have never observed in more that 20 years of
beekeeping.
Steve
Indiana
zone 5a