> I have always heard and thought that, workers wear their wings out is the reason for early death??
> Am I all wet??  Maybe these bees do not work as hard, not flying as much.

It appears that honey bees are programmed to die, as are most organisms. The main exceptions that I know are the lobster, and some trees. It is different for different species, even closely related ones. For example, rats live 2 or 3 years but squirrels much longer. It appears to be evolutionarily selected. If an organism is prone to develop DNA damage or disease at advanced age, then short lived lineages may prevail, as they remain vigorous, due to continual replacement.

As applies to honey bees, it appears that the summer bees are programmed to expire in 6 to 8 weeks, honey flow or not. This is obvious because in years where there is no flow, the colonies still lose bees in the late summer. They expire. On the other hand, in the fall they produce long lived "winter bees" which can actually live for 10 months. This is triggered by feeding, and better nutritional resources lead to longer lived winter bees.

As I stated, it is to the colony's benefit to have the summer bees die off. They are the ones who go out and pick up diseases from the environment and from robbing sick hives. The bees that go into winter may need to survive for six months or more. This is also beneficial in climates where there may be six months drought, like in California. Having short and long lived workers is of immense benefit. Having a long lived queen makes little difference, since the old queen would normally leave the hive with a swarm and the colony would get a new queen on a regular basis (in nature). 

PLB

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