Here are the guidelines that were suggested for samples during the WSBA meeting in Vancouver, WA. 
Dr. Steve Sheppard made an instant unofficial decision after consulting his students for 30 seconds on how many samples to send in.

(1- 5 hives, one sample), (5-10 hives, two samples), (10- 25 hives, three samples), (25-100 hives, four),
(100-500 hives, five), (500-1000 hives, ten samples). More - Call Kirsten at 509 335 8598 in Pullman.

Jeff Pettis on Colony losses.

There is a decline in colonies with an increasing demand for bees. In 2012 there is a projected need for 2 million colonies for almond pollination. At the moment there are 2.5 million in the US. There have been requests to open up the borders to allow Canada and Mexican hives into the US for pollination. 

Test study of irradiated combs was conducted from dead outs of CCD hives.
40 boxes treated with Gama, 40 were control, 40 Acetic acid and 40 honey comb. One half went to pollination and the other for honey production. After nine months the following were still alive. Acetic 50%, Control 50%, honey comb 42%, Gama 73%.

Test study of trucked hives from Florida to California. 
The bees had a hard time maintaining a constant brood nest temperature. 30% of eggs and 15% of three day larvae died.
According to Jeff, they were unable to correlate CCD to voroa or nosema. From test samples they have been able to show nosema Cerania has been in the US since 1985.

Colony losses were historically 5-10% before voroa. 20-25%after voroa and now it is 30-35%. 
There was no differance in losses between stationary and migratory beekeepers. Research continues for stress, mites, pathogens and pesticides for the cause of CCD.

Eric Mussen on “Not your fathers Nosema” and Pesticides.

Ceranae is in the incoming pollen from foragers. It can kill bees in 4-7 days. He gave a talk on how “Some” beekeepers treated with Fumagillin-B. He did not recommend the treatments since it was not an approved methould. He did recommend that if you treat, do it on a two year cycle. Ceranae is classified as a fungus.

Pesticides. Lead arsenate was first recorded bee kill in 1884.

Herbicides are not much of a problem to bees. Subtle effects of modern poisoning are pupae dying during molt, empty brood cells where larvae have been removed. The queen stops laying. The Techtronic acids are new “Movento”. It does not harm the foragers but will kill the brood and queens from the contaminated pollen.

The new systemics will reach all portions of the plant. It is “in” the pollen, nectar and fruit or vegetable

Dave Tarpy on Genetic Diversity.

To have good genetic diversity the queen needs to have multiple mating. The average was 15 drones with the effective mating number being 12. The maximum mating's that were recorded was 45. A good sign to indicate multiple mating's is seeing 5-10% of empty brood cells. Another indication that you have a well mated queen is by the number of retinue higher around her. Well mated queens have more pheromones then single mated or virgin queens.

Study of 136 queens bought from various queen advertisers’. A highly quality queen will have 150-180 ovarioles. Preliminary results shows 44% have fewer than 125 ovarioles. Nosema was not found. 2.5% had tracheal mites. Lots of viruses in all of them. Sperm count of well mated queens is 5-7 million. Less than 3 million was considered under mated. 16% were poorly mated with 68% inadequately mated. For a visual reference for a well mated queen it did not matter how long the queen was but how “Wide” she is at her abdomen. Late fall queens have less mating’s typically. Another practical measure of how well a queen is mated is to have queens in a bank and the well mated ones will be the ones with more bees on her cage.

Mike Burgett on Pollination Economic Survey

Pollination fee average for 2005-$50, 2006-$72, 2007-$70. Gross fee per hive 2005-$110, 2006-$150
2007-$175. Average cost of operating a hive for 2007-$135.

Marina Meixner Pathogen and pest diagnosis in Germany
They have low nosema in Germany. They had stopped the use of Fumigillin in 1985. They can sample honey to determine the probability of a hive coming down with AFB. Lye treatment is effective for AFB. There is a strong emphasis on comb replacement. A study of theirs showed that having 12 frame spaces of bees or more increased the hive survival rate significantly. 11 or less spaces of bees did not have very good survival rate.

Gloria Degrandi-Hoffman on Nutrition
With the other troubles out there, nutrition is more important than ever. Nosema weakened nurse bee’s use up their body stores quicker. When their fatty acids and proteins are depleted they become weakened and become field bees sooner and die at a faster rate than healthy bees. This attrition has a huge effect on effective populations over a year. Each bee loosing 4 –6 days of life matters. My take away comment was about candy boards and MegaBee candy boards for over wintering and spring build up. More protein/pollen is not better. Steady, available SMALL amounts do matter, winter and early spring.

MegaBee Hard Candy Formula's
For a 10 lb batch (actually 10.5 lbs)

MegaBee Hard Candy Formula (4% protein content)

7 Lb Sugar
1.5 Lb HFCS
1Lb Water
1Lb MegaBee

Bring sugar, water and HFCS to a slow boil while stirring until "Hard Ball" candy consistency is reached ~ 235 to 245 degrees F.  
Take the candy off the heat and stir in MegaBee with a whisk. Pour mixture into a mold and allow to cool. 

MegaBee Hard Candy Formula (8% protein content)

Bring sugar, water and HFCS to a slow boil while stirring until "Hard Ball" candy consistency is reached ~ 235 to 245 degrees F.  Take the candy off the heat and stir in MegaBee with a whisk. Pour mixture into a mold and allow to cool. 

MegaBee Hard Candy Formula (16% protein content)

For a 13 lb batch (actually 13.5 lbs)

Bring sugar, water and HFCS to a slow boil while stirring until "Hard Ball" candy consistency is reached ~ 235 to 245 degrees F.  Take the candy off the heat and stir in MegaBee with a whisk. Pour mixture into a mold and allow to cool.

Steve Sheppard on Queen rearing.

He imported drone sperm from Italy, Germany and Turkey. The genetic diversity is very small in the US so this will be an attempt to add to the genetics for helping the bees stay healthier.