Joe replying:
 Looks in your pic like honeybee pupa exoskeletons and
large bee parts is evidence of ‘pulling and discarding’ 
of diseased pupa. Which as I hypothesize may somehow be
related to, but  may also be separate from the trait of
‘chewing and reabsorbing’ diseased pupa, as opposed to
discarding the pupa (as I stated in my reply to Michael I
state that some beekeepers report chewing out of worker 
brood and others occasionally report the brood being
discarded). 

Reply:
Okay, in following the discussion you are having may I
interject another thought to add to the pot to ponder.

Bees though insects are also animals and do have brains,
and like other animals do get pressed for work having to
make the best of short-time frames for accomplishing tasks
to keep up with mother nature. There are slow moving years
and fast moving years for lack of other words.

Take the years when spring is coming on fast and plants are
starting to bloom, and you find then bees quickly chewing
out frames of granulated honey to make room for expansion
of broodnest, vs those years when spring is coming on slow
and they are having to save and use every ounce of food
they have.

They seem to know when to go into a fast track mode vs a
slower paced one.

Why wouldn't this then be similar to the brood chewing
out/down variances you are describing, depending upon the
needs of the individual hive it is occuring within, knowing
that not all hives work at the same pace for spring buildup
or other broodnest turnovers at other times of the active
beekeeping year? Just like granulated honey chewing out
seen in some years vs not in others. Intensive broodnest
chewing and cleansing out in some years and not in others.
Why not same scenario in pupae chewing out, or even
secondary diseases too for that matter? A slow mode and a
fast mode depending upon the time frame at hand, besides
the amount of workers available, and strong hive vs weaker
hive? LIke I said all animals do think and I think bees
think more then many give them credit for.................

Respectfully submitted,

Dee A. Lusby
Small Cell Commercial Beekeeper
Moyza, Arizona
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/organicbeekeepers/  



 
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