2015 Survey Q & A – CCD & Beekeeping costs

Q-CCD is a serious problem!!!!!! Besides bee loss, the cost of beekeeping continues to rise which makes it difficult for most to continue or start.
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A – You commented on CCD and the seriousness with rising costs of beekeeping. Beekeeping has never been ‘cheap’ and you are correct in that losing nearly 1/2 of the bee colonies each year due to CCD and other factors only adds to the cost by our need for replacement bees. As we started our work on CCD back in 2007 (when we defined the term) – and began to realize the extent and seriousness of overwintering (and active seasonal) losses, we thought there might be a single cause – that has proven to not be the case. Syndromes of losses like CCD and Bee PMS have been especially troublesome in our search for what might be the underlying factor(s) in the symptoms we see in the dead colonies.
With the heavier losses supply and demand factors of the marketplace have kicked in and people selling bees have realized with the demand that they can (and should) raise prices. I have been doing this for over 50 years – the pendulum has swung in one direction — it will swing back – if we live long enough to see it repeat past history. Bees and hive equipment will never be inexpensive but maybe more reasonable in the future.