Embracing Change in Beekeeping

Hey Bee Buddies! 🌼✨ So, let me share my journey with what I’m calling the New CCD, a twist on the mysterious bee plagues we’ve seen in the past. Ready to dive into the buzzworthy details?

It hit out of nowhere with no warning signs.
Hives filled with brood, food, and bees were suddenly hit hard.
Entire beeyards were affected simultaneously.
Oddly, a few hives in the same yard were totally unaffected.
Surviving hives didn’t raid the affected ones.
And, as mysteriously as it arrived, it vanished.

Sounds like disappearing disease from the good ol’ literature, right?

Flashback to the Past

I relocated these bees from a commercial beeyard, hoping for a fresh start. Initial vibes were good, but the season didn’t play out that way. The colonies struggled after a spotty yellow sweet clover flow and limped through the season. Winter wasn’t kind, with significant queen losses.

The New CCD Chronicles

Fast forward to this season – time for a reboot! I split and requeened surviving hives, ensuring they had honey and were well-fed with sugar and pollen substitute. The plan? Two deeps and enough feed for a cozy winter.

But, nope! Despite low varroa mite counts and no apparent initial signs of trouble, they just weren’t thriving. Throughout the season:

They looked and smelled great.
No crawlers, K-wings, or spotty brood.
They ignored the sugar and pollen substitute even when resources were scarce.
Frames from the commercial beekeeper eventually developed a nondescript foulbrood disease.
Brood volume seemed good for the colony’s size, but the bee populations didn’t grow.

Most adult bees gradually vanished without a trace, leaving just enough to cover brood and a couple more frames. Five-frame splits grew to seven frames, while those with the mysterious brood disease shrunk to four frames.

It’s like a slow-motion CCD, unlike anything I’ve seen before. It aligns with Randy Oliver’s descriptions of virus impacts in his ‘Sick Bees’ articles in the Ameriise Journal.

A New Era

Unlike the abrupt appearance and disappearance of the old CCD, this slow-mo version sticks around. Research suggests a virus and Nosema ceranae are the culprits.

Natural Beekeepers’ Dilemma

So, what’s a natural beekeeper to do? Simple – stick to what we’ve always done! We’re using the same methods that conquered chalkbrood, tracheal mites, and varroa mites without hopping onto the pesticide treadmill.

Sure, there might be some short-term hiccups, but if history is any guide, the long-term gains will be totally worth it. ✨

-Buzzing with resilience, D 🐝🤠