>As far as I can see, what is being proposed that honey bees can assess how much honey they have in reserve and that they alter their foraging behavior accordingly. 

There is the misunderstanding.  That is not what is being suggested at all.  

What is being suggested is that well provisioned bees reduce their foraging after the storage area in the region of the hive occupied by the bees is full and capped, and the bees have little interest in foraging.  

In cooler weather, the area occupied by the cluster shrinks and they have less interest in storing in remote areas of the hive.  In fact, feed from those areas is drawn down into the brood (occupied) area.

>I am stating that they do not do this. They have no way of knowing how much honey they have, or how long it would last, so how could they base foraging on this information?

That must be referring to summer conditions when the cluster expands to fill the entire hive -- no matter how big it is.  I think I was discussing fall and spring when the area occupied by the cluster is reduced.  As the brood area shrinks, the bees fill the empty cells that held brood and are far less likely to fill cells outside the cluster.

>There is some evidence that a colony can and does vary their foraging for pollen based upon how much they have in reserve, and maintain a critical mass of pollen of about 1 kg.

Nick did some work on that.  I wasn't entirely satisfied that it entirely covered the question, but it was interesting and thought-provoking.

>There is no evidence that bees decreased storing honey at any point, and will store ten times the amount they actually need to go through a single winter.

This only happens when the hive is warm enough that the bees occupy the entire cavity, the flow is heavy and the populations are strong.  In the shoulder seasons, the situation can be very different.   

Perhaps warm country beekeeping is different, but in cold country this knowledge is so fundamental and pivotal to successful beekeeping that I am surprised it is even a matter of question.

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