On 26/03/2012 8:21 AM, Peter Loring Borst wrote:
> >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. I am stating that they do not do this.
All the evidence that I have seen such as Seely's work indicates that
they adjust only on the economic benefit of the source.
> >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.
Seely IIRC said something like this. However in Western Australia I am
(I hope reliably) informed that excess pollen may at times be stored in
the honey supers, which implies well above the 1kg. Peter D?
> >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.
If there is no other room they will keep contracting the brood nest
almost to nothing.
Geoff Manning
***********************************************
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
Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at:
http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm