Re Charlie and Dick's observations about the pollen flow in fall.  I'm
perhaps not making myself clear.  When do you observe that the colony
reduces or ceases the rearing of young brood?

Re the depleting of body reserves, may I suggest that you read my recent
article in ABJ on the subject.  There is no indication that broodrearing
depletes body reserves.

And to Pete's comments:
>What I meant by raised was their care and feeding during the first week or
two of adult life, which seems to influence whether they will live long --
or not.

There is very little "care" of a bee after it emerges--it takes care of
itself.  Whether they on track to become either a diutinus bee or nurse,
they feed voraciously on pollen or beebread.  It does not appear to be the
amount of protein input that makes the difference.

>If the bulk of the winter bees are born in September, while there is a lot
of brood in the hive and lots of pollen still coming in, what is the
trigger?

Somehow I'm not getting across that it appears to be the amount of young
larvae--not the total amount of brood--that triggers becoming a diutinus
bee.

>Are you saying that these thousands of bees born during the bountiful fall
flow

Not at all.  It's not what I'm saying, its what Mattila found.  That the
bees that became "winter bees" were those that emerged *after* fresh pollen
stopped coming in, and the rearing of young larvae ceased.


 >then find themselves in a colony with diminishing inputs (even while they
are surrounded by lots of fresh honey and pollen) -- and they are switched
to long life mode?

Yes, that is exactly what both Harris' and Mattila's data suggest. Take a
look at the survivorship graphs and look up the weather history for the
years in which their studies took place.

Or do you suggest that the bulk of winter bees emerge after the main flow,
and find themselves in a hive that is going into scarcity mode, with a
great reduction in egg laying and brood care? Which then triggers longer
lifespan?

That is exactly what the evidence suggests.  And what Amdam's experiments
suggests.  It also makes complete biological sense.
-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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