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Bee's, CCD and stuff......

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I scanned the article and noted it was from 2007. I just finished reading Beekeepers Lament which is a bit more current. The interesting part of the article is the effects of constantly moving the hives. Might be more of a cause of CCD than considered before

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Sure I realised it wasn't mega recent Doug, but it seemed to allude to points that I haven't read.

Perhaps those points have indeed already been considered, but IMO its still got to be worthy of pushing it out as widely as is feasible.........
 
Now discredited idea

CCD was a tag for huge losses of bees for many reasons. Bees suffering from anything they deem fatal do every thing in their power to not die in the hive and add to the problem. Like a longship funeral, they take a last trip out. Hives that have received a fatal dose of slow acting poisons or bees suffering from on of the many virus vectored by varroa mites, tend to just disappear into the leaf litter.

The leading suspected causes for bee loss are:
Neonicitinoids, a systemic poison that is not especially deadly to the bees but some suspect it may disable the bees internal compass resulting in them not making it home.

Varroa mites. Any question about what happened to my bees is usually correctly answered by saying mites! The mites damage the bees by parasitizing them but the virus they vector are especially harmful.

Harvesting dust. The dust from pulverized soybeans and corn plants being harvested hangs in the air in a huge cloud for days. Many people suffer from bad effects from that dust and some respected bee men think it is highly toxic to bees. I hate to mention this, but in fairness: The gene spliced in to corn that makes the plant toxic to corn borers by making the plant toxic and when the harvester pulverizes the plants that chemical is in the air for days. The GMO club is brandished clumsily and it is like saying that all motor vehicles are evil because a battle tank is a motor vehicle.

Those are the leading three that maintain any acceptance. Power lines and cell towers are pretty well off the list. As is Roundup and a host of other speculations.
 
Well...

Does CCD realy exists ?

Or it´s only a new manifestation of old diseases ?

Since 1812, there are several news, in a recurrent way, of huge losses of bees all over the world.

For what I´ve seen, its associated with high varroa infestations, that precede the loss for two to four months. When varroa infestation is heavy, even if you treat for varroa, the damage in the bee is done, and will not revert. Looks like the losses of proteins of bee hemolymph, leads to an imune deficit.
Also it seems that some chemicals (among them, some used in varroa control) have the ability to induce viruses, and varroa is a vector of many visuses...

Just a little provocation to our biologists friends here :

All bee viruses are RNA virus.
Some RNA particles can and interfer whith transcription.
Can some of this RNA virus act as interfer RNA ?, thus changing or interfering with some proteins from which the bees depends to take decisions ? (as we know that much of the decisions that bees take, are based on the acumulation of some proteins in the citoplasm of some cells).

A Happy New Year for all Cotmeaders !
 
CCD seems to be more of a prob for the beekeepers with hundreds or thousands of hives that are moved from site to site, and less for the backyard hobby beekeeper. Maybe moving them every few weeks throws off their GPS and they get lost.

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I remember years ago when we had first heard of CCD, I went to the local Greenfest and asked every beek present how things were with their bees.

All the organic farmers growing biodiverse crops for the local community said "We don't know what they're talking about. Our bees are fine."

While the large scale beeks told me they'd lost 30-50% of their hives.
 
My friend only had a couple of hives and he lost everything last year... Now, I don't know what crops were planted around him, but I have been to his place and I don't think he was right in the middle of a heavily-sprayed farm establishment...
 
My friend only had a couple of hives and he lost everything last year... Now, I don't know what crops were planted around him, but I have been to his place and I don't think he was right in the middle of a heavily-sprayed farm establishment...
Click to expand...

How is he doing varroa control ?

And what about small hive beetle ? Any around there ?
 
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