Dick Marron:

> And the larva aren't
> starving, they are dying of a pathogen. I'm not saying nutrition isn't
> involved.

The traditional teaching is that the bacteria multiply in the gut and 
compete with the larvae for food (field diagnosis for EFB is a white gut - 
to be confirmed by lab, or lateral flow device); the bacteria do not invade 
the body of the larvae as is the case with EFB - so they are not dying of a 
pathogen?  With a plentiful supply of nurse bees many larvae are fed well 
enough to survive (a bad thing because they then void bacteria in the cell 
rather than being remove with the bacterial load intact), but in a strong 
flow a proportion of the nurse bees start to forage earlier (perhaps the 
foragers have less time or inclination to feed them ethyl oleate?).  This 
tips the balance in favour of the bacteria and larvae die.
Best wishes

Peter Edwards
beekeepers at stratford-upon-avon.freeserve.co.uk
www.stratford-upon-avon.freeserve.co.uk/

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