My husband went to chat to a local beekeeper, who we heard had stopped, to see if he had any kit to sell. The old chap said he hadn't stopped but had lost 29 colonies over the past two winters. Thought it was because of the conditions. My husband asked him if he had taken any preventative action against diseases, the old boy said no, that he thought bees should be left to deal with any disease. Its not clear whether it was just varroa or somthing else, but he is only about 1.5 miles as the crow flies from here. He now has one colony from a swarm last July and hopes to re-build from there. Needless to say we didn't mention that we were looking for kit. Would it have been varroa or could it have been something else in this area? And how do we get him to protect his bees?