On 30 Mar 98 at 21:18, James C Bach wrote:
 
> on my colonies for the last ten years.  My HBTM levels have only
> been about 10 to 15 percent, but the brood patterns have been less
> than ideal, i.e. spotty.  This lack of larval survival could account
> for keeping the HBTM levels low.  This year I'm going to withhold
> patties (using only TM dust) on some of the colonies and see what
> will happen to the HBTM levels in the treated and control colonies.
 
My understanding of HBTM, is that it has no or little effect on brood
patterns, it is strictly an young adult problem.
        Spotty brood patterns are caused by lack of diversity within the
drone population and therefore forces the queen to lay diploid eggs,
which are then eaten or removed by the workers.
 
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