>
> >Here is another example that late feeding may be harmful:
>

One must be careful about extrapolating from single sentences in scientific
papers.  Again and again, however, I find that the citation(s) given in
support of a claim in peer-reviewed papers do not actually support the
claim (several instances in recent major studies).  Since the reviewers are
obviously not checking the claims against the citations, it behooves the
reader to do it themselves.

>
> >  but caution should be exercised while feeding protein as high protein
> diets have been shown to reduce longevity in honey bees and in ants.


The above claim cited a paper by Pirk.  But Pirk's experiments were
performed with caged, newly-emerged bees that were not given any choice as
to separating their protein and carbohydrate consumption.  Thus, their
results can hardly be expected to apply to diutinus bees having free choice
of pollen and honey in the colony.

The bottom line is that many animals (humans included) experience health
problems if limited to a high-protein diet as their sole source of
energy--human hunter societies balance it with fat consumption; other
cultures with carbohydrate-rich grains or tubers.

Honey bees do the same--they can choose how much pollen to consume relative
to the amount of sugar.  And the queen, larvae, and foragers don't need to
consume any pollen at all--they only need jelly produced by the nurse
bees.  When a bee is growing (as a larva), laying eggs, producing jelly, or
developing its fat bodies, it needs a lot of protein in its diet.  The rest
of its life it requires only sugar for an energy source, and only a trace
of protein.

>I am just exploring the conflicting information

Thank you Pete, for bringing what appear to be conflicting conclusions to
the List's attention.
May I suggest that for any subject for which one hears conflicting
statements, that one thoroughly review the materials and methods of each
study cited.  I often arrive at a different interpretation than the
authors, who of course are trying to pimp up their number of citations.

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

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