> > ... dysentery in bees is simply not well studied.  Older bees eat little
> pollen, so it would appear that colored dysentery would be mostly from nurse
> bees taking cleansing flights, or from foragers newly transitioned from
> nurse or winter bees.
>
> >Now that is a very interesting point.  After maturing, how many times does
> a bee need to defecate and what is the source of the bulk, since honey
> contains little solid material and the products of metabolism would be water
> and CO2 mostly?
>

I sure think so, Allen!  That's why I've been researching the question.
Tells us a lot about the ages of bees affected by nosema, and the ages of
those flying out to defecate.

Re: honey solids.  There are mineral salts, indigestible carbohydrates, and
some pollen grains.  Also, forager bees have a high turnover of the protein
in their bodies (made up by feedings of jelly from nurse bees), so there are
uric acid wastes (which should be pretty clear, based on the color of queen
feces).

Randy Oliver

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