>> If liquids are being lost in the feces which would be held back in a healthy bee, does this imply dehydration could take place as it may with dysentary in other animals?

> ... 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?

What does this say about the ages of bees flying from wintering hives to eliminate?  

We often hear that sugar is the best winter feed in many circumstances due to solids in some honey, so this also takes us back to asking what solids can be in honey and how there could be enough to accumulate in a bee.  The honey we produce seems water-white and very clear -- while in the combs, at least.  Is this an 'old beekeeper's tale" which mistakes one effect (other defects) for another, or relates only to burnt honey fed back?

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html

Access BEE-L directly at:
http://community.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-LSOFTDONATIONS.exe?A0=BEE-L