Why need to monitor dead or??  Making it to complex.  If you took samples of
say 100 larvae either capped or pre capped, you get a good sample of what
the bees are actually getting fed.
Most of the accusation are based on "sub lethal" dosages that are effecting
the longevity of the bees.  Based on that assumption you want a decent
larval sample.
Dead larvae doesn't need to be counted, as I have not heard anyone claiming
that "all the larvae were dying off"  were that the case it would be
extremely obvious, and a different test would ensue.

No the base test for all this garbage is way simpler than that.  You could
differentiat between capped and uncapped,  but other than that is seems to
me the "great scientific minds" are making this way to abstract and
complicated.

Start with the basics.  If that shows problems did deeper.  If the results
are negative, sit down and shut up.

Just my view.

Charles

-----Original Message-----
From: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of James Fischer
Sent: Tuesday, January 21, 2014 8:09 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [BEE-L] Am I missing something?

> we can we not crush up a few larva from healthy and sick hives and see
what levels they are really getting fed? 

Ah ha!

THE astute question has at last been asked!
[Sound of the 100 Kazoo Marching Band playing a march by John Phillip
Kazooza, balloons dropping, blonds in sequined evening gowns rolling out
fabulous prizes from behind the curtain...]

Yes, testing the levels in the larvae would be... much more...  definitive.
And it is possible, it is just a tad more tedious than counting emerged
adults versus larvae fed.

"Tedious" would involve someone to sit and watch the (observation) hive, and
stop any bee removing or starting to cannibalize a dead larvae.  They'd have
to do it in shifts.  I'm not sure that the larvae are going to show visible
symptoms of sickness, or even show visible symptoms of being dead.

But one can eliminate the bees entirely and hand-raise the larvae, feeding
them with small metered pumps.  You'd have to harvest the "royal jelly" from
another colony to feed to the test colony, but a large amount of brood is
not needed.  One could automate the process, monitor the level of brood food
in each cell, and fill as needed.  I built a similar gizmo over a decade ago
- an automatic seed planter for a friend with a commercial greenhouse and a
giant stack of starting trays that planted seeds at precise distances using
an old pen-plotter mechanism and a tiny vacuum pipette to pick up one seed
at a time, push it into the potting soil, and then blow a puff of air
(solenoids!) to cover the seed.

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