> Thanks Pete, have you read all three of their papers on the study? 

Actually, I now have 80 papers on this topic, from Maurizio in 1950 to Mattila in 2016. I am trying to make sense of it all. For example:

> Supplementing the pollen diet of colonies in the fall neither increased the size of the population of winter bees nor improved the performance of the workers that wintered in colonies. What does this mean for beekeepers keen to ensure that they have strong colonies in the spring? 

> Beekeepers willing to invest the time and money in supplementing the pollen diet of colonies would be better served by ensuring that colonies have an ample supply of pollen _during the spring_ when surplus nutrients can be directly incorporated into the broodrearing effort of colonies. 

> If beekeepers feed pollen to colonies during the fall, then they will only artificially delay the production of the population of winter bees, and they are unlikely to improve the survival or spring nursing capacity of those workers that do winter.

Mattila, H. R., & Otis, G. W. (2007). Manipulating pollen supply in honey bee colonies during the fall does not affect the performance of winter bees. The Canadian Entomologist, 139(04), 554-563.

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