> I vacuumed 50 bees from every colony, pooled them and
> ground up.  This was not intended to be a treatment...

Strictly speaking anything we do is a treatment.

 > The ensuing crash was entirely unexpected!

Were the treatment bees from the same colonies that were treated?

The reason I ask is that I have often wondered how much crushing bees in 
manipulations affects colonies.  I am quite a bit more careful that way 
than many commercial beekeepers and make sure that I smoke or brush the 
bees out of the way when applying patties, for example.

I don't seem to see the same amount of nosema that others do, and have 
wondered if that is a factor.

Gosh!  I wonder if we have a bee wasting disease c/w prions, etc.?

Feeding animal byproducts to herbivores was the cause of some serious 
and unexpected issues as I recall.

Bees apparently eat their own larvae, though, so what do I know?

It is assumed they digest and recycle the nutrients from the larvae to 
some extent, or do they?.

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