Since we’re on the topic of Europe and
symptoms, this seems like a good time
to mention colony collapse. Signs to look for:
abnormal brood pattern, sunken or chewed combs.
Larvae slumped to the side of their chambers. Worst is
supersedure of the Queen. The cause is
usually a parasite. The parasite only affects
European honeybees, which, as we know, were
brought to America by Columbus and kept on bee farms
primarily for the purpose of wax candles. When they escaped
into the wild, where they subsequently built little monarchies,
colonists referred to them as feral. Of course, Puritan missionaries invented
the idea that Native Americans didn’t even have a word for bee. Wrong.
There were 4,000 thriving species of “feral bees” at the time when
the Mayflower et. al. docked and unloaded its many treasures.
Colony collapse is a spore that ripples towards crops and
people and their money. Notably it’s never been found in the beehives
of native populations, which is a joke of decent design.