Scott,
        I have one colony with an enormous population that exploded when the
nectar flow began. Despite a bear attack this colony produced 3 complete
supers of capped honey in 10 days. I was able to salvage only 14 frames
and these extracted to 3 gallons of strained honey. The number of bees
that hang out on the front is probably about 10 - 15,000 at any one time
despite 3 entrances  It is not to fret. Remember that the bees actually
spend lots of time doing nothing but resting and patrolling.
        I have another, similar colony in a different location that produced
nearly nothing this year. They are lazy and are going to get a new queen
next week.

        Hanging out is not an indicator of productivity. The only good measure
of productivity is  how much honey they make.

Thom Bradley
Chesapeake, VA

Scott Moser wrote:
  Has anyone ever really studied this to
> see if they do indeed produce less?  If indeed they do less work, and
> produce less, would it be to our advantage to select against such idleness?
> Is the loss of production negligible, and therefore of little concern?