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Your local environment plays the biggest part in their survival. Honeybees are not native to the US and even natural conditions in some areas can not provide great levels of nutrition the bees need. Case in point is NY state. The lime belt region provides a much more nutritious environment that the rest of the state. Just like humans, a well nutrition feed bee is a healthy bee and less susceptible to viruses and diseases. Majority of CCD cases are seen with the commercial beekeepers who are putting their bees on monocrops that don't provide a well rounded diet of the different proteins. Just going 'natural' is not the stop all answer, you may still need to provide supplements. Not trying to hijack a post, but if your interested in getting into beekeeping, check out my "Beekeeping for Everyone" posts where I'm approaching beekeeping for novices.

Thanks, I'll be checking the post out!

Hi, thanks for your great inquiry! Good question. They’re dying off because of mis management and unnatural methods of feeding, medicating and housing. I would suggest researching natural beekeeping methods (like the ones mentioned above at horizontalhive.com) and talking to as many natural beekeepers as you can. Many people are keeping bees without feeding or medicating and with great success and quite easily! Good luck on your path!