Hi Bill, as a California beekeeper who very effectively manages when my
colonies rear brood and when they don't, and who is intimately familiar
with extended dearths, perhaps I can offer some answers to your questions.


> 1. What really prompts the queen to stop laying? It must come from
> the workers, but how?
>

Two likely explanations come to mind--(1) the nurses cutting back on the
amount of jelly fed to the queen,  and (2) the nurses consuming laid eggs
as quickly as the queen lays them.  Both easy to observe.

2. What prompts the renewal of laying?
>

More protein income.  Larval rearing resumes immediately.  Also easy to
observe.


> 3. Is there a delay after the first drenching rain until the renewal
> of laying?
>

It's not about rain, it's about pollen income.


> 4. In my case, but it may be universal, why didn't sugar syrup promote
> the continuance of laying but it appeared she stopped?
>

No protein in sugar syrup.

-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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