# Is ccd seasonal?



## olympic (Aug 20, 2006)

Is there any evidence/statistics if CCD is seasonal? Does it occur more at certain times of the year or not?


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## olympic (Aug 20, 2006)

So, no one knows the answer to this question?


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## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

No one even knows what CCD is.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

olympic said:


> So, no one knows the answer to this question?


The answer is Maybe. CCD doesn't necassarily follow the same guidelines(?) as Winterkill. But, I don't know if anyone can say how many Winterkilled colonies were actually the result of CCD or CCD related.


I have had colonies die during the summer and into the fall. Was that CCD? Not sure. WAs it high mites and nosema and viruses? Could have been. But, I have had high nosema spore counts in colonies which survive quite well from the samplking season, summer, and thru the winter.

So, the answer isn't black and white. Sorry. Others may disagree.


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## FlowerPlanter (Aug 3, 2011)

Watch the BBC movie "Where have the honey bees gone". It describes a few theories about a pesdicide
and that CCD happens more during the dormant period of the bees (I am guessing that means winter)


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Could be. But, if what I experienced when my colony count went from 732 down to 100 over a 9 month period was CCD, then it occurs not only in winter, but during the summer and fall too.

When Hackenberg experienced what came to be called CCD, it happened in September/October.


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## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

olympic said:


> So, no one knows the answer to this question?


I actually think that may be a pretty fair statement. While there is a definition out there, it seems to mean different things to different people and sometimes becomes a catchall diagnosis. Some beekeepers (myself included) have never seen large unexplained losses where bees suddenly disappear but many beekeepers including some that I think are exceptional have experienced it. A recent experiment that Randy Oliver conducted may have provided the most compelling evidence to me that viruses may play the biggest role. It does, though, seem to be more of a fall and winter phenomena and good nutrition and low varroa mite levels seem to be the best defense against it.


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## bluegrass (Aug 30, 2006)

It is important to keep in mind that CCD isn't a disease... it is a set of symptoms. 

It is like asking if headaches are seasonal.... sometimes they can be triggered by seasons like from the warm dry air in your home in the winter. But warm dry air isn't what causes all headaches... 

We don't know what cases CCD; it is likely that many things can cause it, what caused it in one beekeeper's hives may not be what cased it in another's. 

At this point it is starting to be just a label that gets thrown around willy-nilly.


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## FlowerPlanter (Aug 3, 2011)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_collapse_disorder

lot of different theories

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x925297

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x979180

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imidacloprid_effects_on_bee_population

The more I read the more I am convinced it is a combination of *Imidacloprid* and Nosma


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

>>lot of different theories<<

yup


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