page_title: Colony collapse disorder
section_title: Signs and symptoms
hierarchical_section_title: Colony collapse disorder / Signs and symptoms
caption_attribution_description: English: Visit to a bee colony in West Virginia Español: Visitando una finca de abejas
context_page_description: Colony collapse disorder is an abnormal phenomenon that occurs when the majority of worker bees in a honey bee colony disappear, leaving behind a queen, plenty of food, and a few nurse bees to care for the remaining immature bees. While such disappearances have occurred sporadically throughout the history of apiculture, and have been known by various names, the syndrome was renamed colony collapse disorder in late 2006 in conjunction with a drastic rise in reports of disappearances of western honey bee colonies in North America. Beekeepers in most European countries have observed a similar phenomenon since 1998, especially in Southern and Western Europe; the Northern Ireland Assembly received reports of a decline greater than 50%. The phenomenon became more global when it affected some Asian and African countries as well.
  Colony collapse disorder causes significant economic losses because many agricultural crops worldwide depend on pollination by western honey bees.
context_section_description: CCD is not the same as colony decline that can be caused by various issues such as queen health, varroa mite infestation, nutrition, and various diseases. In collapsed colonies, CCD is suspected when it is observed that few adult bees are physically present in the colony. Unlike with other acute causes of die-off such as pesticide exposure, few if any dead bees are found in or near the hive, as if the hive had simply been abandoned. A colony that has collapsed from CCD is generally characterized by all of these conditions occurring simultaneously:
  Presence of capped brood in abandoned colonies. Bees normally do not abandon a hive until the capped brood have all hatched.
  Presence of food stores, both honey and bee pollen:
  that other bees do not rob immediately
  with significantly delayed attacks by hive pests such as wax moths and small hive beetles
  Presence of the queen bee. If the queen is not present, the hive likely died because it was queenless, which is not considered CCD.
  Precursor symptoms that may arise before the final colony collapse include:
  Inability to maintain current brood due to low workforce
  Colony includes mostly young adult bees
  Bees are reluctant to consume provided feed, such as sugar syrup and protein supplement.
caption: Visit to a bee colony in West Virginia
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