Randy Oliver writes:

> I suspect that queenless bees may shift to diutinus physiology.

Isn't it sort of the other way around, that is, it is their feeding of
brood that causes them to "age", and in the absence of such activity,
they "age" more slowly?

I'm not disagreeing with your conclusion (in fact I lost a colony last
year in part because the age distribution in the hive got screwed up
due to an extended broodless period, in the presence of a QMP stick),
just with the way you state it.  I wonder if it's more accurate to
state that the presence of brood (or the activity of feeding it)
causes their physiology to shift *away* from the diutinus.


Anne, a very nitpicky backyard beekeeper, Montreal.

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