Friday, August 13, 2010

CCD or SNAFU?

I came across a great video from Penn State on CCD.   It seems as the rate of CCD does decline in areas other causes of hive loss begin to become more apparent.  Over all back in 1980 America the number of bee colonies had peaked and has been diminishing ever since.  Aggravated by more intensive agricultural methods and the introduction of mites the steady decline continues even after you factor out colony collapse disorder.  The current rate of winter losses is around 30% still above the more traditional 20%.  This becomes more difficult to make up during the summer by splitting hives.  When you have 7 of 10 of last years hives you need to be much more focused to build up your bees to get the 3 back out of the 7 left than getting a more normal 2 out of the 8 from last year.  Hopefully we can get back to a more normal attrition rate sooner than later. 

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