>How can queens lay full out in mid-summer and slow grow? If not a lack of
brood, then why not bulding up?

Anything that shortens the life span of the adult bees is going to manifest
itself in this way: the hive appears to have a good queen, plenty of brood,
but the hive doesn't build up, make honey, or any of the things it is
supposed to do. This could be caused by nosema ceranae, varroa parasitism,
neonics, and especially viruses. Viruses have been shown to shorten the
bees' lifespan. They prevent their becoming long lived winter bees or --
converts potentially long-lived bees into short lived foragers -- the
mechanism is not understood yet. Furthermore, as Jasna Kralj has suggested,
sick bees may deliberately fly off and not return -- the suicide hypothesis.
But whether bees are lost from one cause or another, the effect is the same:
the hives don't build up, don't produce well.

Jasna Kralj:

> The parasitic mite Varroa destructor influences flight behavior,
orientation and returning success of forager honeybees (Apis mellifera)
infested as adults. Impaired orientation toward the nest entrance might be
due to deficiency in recognition and responsiveness to stimuli in the
environment <

pb

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