"Winter" hive related reading ...

from @katherineharmon 's twitter: Zombie fly parasites are killing honeybees http://bit.ly/z4P3kLA new colony collapse disorder suspect?

[This is a link to a Scientific American article, with a fascinating alternative theory from California, on the cause of the collapse, different from either mites or fungus or a virus or cell phone tower disorientation: a creepy weird fly that is somehow getting its eggs inside field bee foragers, and then they go back to the hive, turn into a zombie, fly out randomly at night, up into any light, fall to the ground and die, as the larvae hatch into maggots that eat out their bodies, decapitating them from inside, whereupon as many as 13 flies emerge from the dead bee body cavity. sad but true weirdness. thanks Amanda Mcneill for the link.]