Well Chris with a mild english winter and AMM you may
be right , the queen in those circumstances lay all year
Tell us what the Sottish fellows say, then you differentiate 
race vrs temp
In northern US and Canada the bees certainly stop laying
Some of mine have already 1 week stopped
Today at least 3 had no unsealed brood, this seems early,
I should have fed (:
In other words Northern Queens get a 3 or 4 or 5 month vacation
Strong hives start up to a month earlier, to me this suggest 
that it is temperature related.
While bees can make a lot of heat, if they
have to do it for a long time, it must wear them out
About half the dead-outs have sealed brood, dead Nov-Dec
1/4 frame to 2.5 frames, avg ~.8 frame???
Some of this will be mischance of location,
lots can be laid to weakness, but clearly the queen laid too long
Darwin rules
In my climate i don't worry if the Q doesn't start until Mar,
less likely to run out of pollen, many are not so adapted
but I'm near  the northern limit, this skews the  dates 
Hives that start too early often piddle along forever, only
get going when its warm and barely (at best) gather average honey
Heaters make big difference here, most respond


Now my question is:
Does it wear a bee out to make/draw wax?
I made all my nuc draw 2 frames Sep20-30
lotsa feed, fancy frames etc
Was it  a bad move?

As to varroa I am entirely satisfied with OA(v)
if the hive can't withstand 1 year, good ridance

dave

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