Pete said:

>>>>>It has been fairly well established that there is no clear link between
external conditions and the resumption of brood rearing. Brood rearing
starts about the same time for bees kept in cold storage at a constant temp
as it does for bees outdoors. If an outdoor hive is well insulated they have
very little stimulus from the environment in any case. In my opinion it
appears that brood rearing stops as an instinctual hold over from more
primitive species.<<<<<

Shellfish open and close with the tide. If you take shellfish from the shore
and keep them alive in, say, Nebraska, they continue to open and close but
AS IF THERE WERE TIDES IN NEBRASKA. My point is that the bees may be
responding to something we haven't measured yet. Here's a wild guess: the
begin of the dying off of the winter bees. Or, some physical change in them,
similar the change in glands that occur in a bees life cycle. After all,
there really is a 17 yr locust. Some of natures internal clocks have yet to
be understood.

>>>>>A break at this point would have a variety of benefits, such as
interrupting disease and parasite life cycles. Presumably, once the winter
bees are raised in fall, there is no reason to continue past the critical
population size needed for winter<<<<<<<

As I said above, the change in the size of the population may play into it.
Darwin may also. The earlier a colony builds up, the earlier it can swarm.
Early swarms have a better chance thereby carrying on this trait. (I assume
something like this happened to result in queen emergence in 2 weeks and 3
for workers.)


>>>>>Then, like Mike suggested, when the colony begins to cluster in late
fall, the temperature in the core increases to the point where it triggers
the end of the dormant stage.<<<<<<

I understand the cluster to expand and contract as the individual bees take
care of themselves. Thus it (the cluster) is able to adapt to changes in
temperature and even take a cleansing flight on occasion. I'm trying to get
my head around the idea that brood-rearing startup is secondary to the bees
reacting to the cold. Maybe I'm reading this  wrong.

Dick Marron

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