Richard, Christina,  all I can say is wow.  Great points and conversation.
(and the others)  I just learned a ton in those last two notes.

A cpl of questions/  If the larva uptake from wax is real,  am I mistaken in
assuming that old comb would then be more "clean" than fresh comb??

As for bee life expectancy.  I would surely have to agree with that of
colonies, Varroa has decimated the life expectancy of colonies.

Individual bees however I scratch my head a bit. (curiosity not argument)
Randy oliver points out in one of sick bees writings, that if foragers live
16 days the hive will grow,  if they live 14 the hive will shrink.  I found
that to be a very interesting point.  But how does one determine forager
life?  I asked this before on beesore and got no intelligent replies.

What is forager life now? what was it in the past?  And how can we determine
it...

Now I realize I am twisting my own topic just a bit.  

Peter,  this has been a great conversation.  In pondering how we reach the
masses though,  I realize even though Richard has done a FABULOUS job of
explaining it,  Most people would not and could not follow this
conversation.  If we are going to succesfuly redirect the energy of the
beekeeping community we have to get a simpler base message.

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