> Yes, meant major decrease in population post a summer honey flow.

> Did this occur prior to varroa?  I am curious as to observations in the
> absence of varroa.

It is hard to say for your situation because your climate is so 
different, but I'd say yes, especially for late summer flows, and 
especially for late alfalfa flows.

I also don't know what you mean by 'major decrease' without numbers or 
percentages or some other objective term.  Are you suggesting the hives 
become non-viable suddenly, or just suddenly look a lot smaller.  What 
about brood area?

>>> > >This is due to lack of replacement bees as nectar storage out-competes
>> >the queen for cell space during the crucial ending fall brood cycles.

> I completely understand.  I was wondering whether this caused noticeable
> population crash problems prior the the arrival of varroa.

We typically lost those hives in late fall or winter, but it is normal 
for us to see hives drop from huge summer populations to smaller 
clusters quite quickly in fall.

When 5-storey hives are reduced to one or two boxes are covered with 
bees at first, and it looks as if they cannot fit in, but within days, 
they do.

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