By coincidence, a respected NZ beekeeper posted the following on our Nat'l Beek Assoc list just after I raised the q on Bee-L: I have an observation , accurate I hope, some others out there may have a comment on. Recently I have moved a lot of very hungry hives off bush sites on the Otago coast after a mostly failed attempt to get some Manuka honey. Just too much cool and damp easterly weather when it mattered. I have moved them inland where at higher altitudes there is still some fields of good clover left. Existing hives in the area have made a fair crop considering the season, but they have now effectually stopped. Getting a few boxes of cut comb finished looks unlikely and they are robbing soon as I am in the yard.( And unusually agressive too.) However, and here is the point, the very hungry hives, now in just brood chambers, have really very quickly pulled in their winter stores. ( I'd say on average about 10+ kg in two weeks). Same pastures and weather, but apparently much more "desperate" to be anthropomorphic, to collect honey. This is not very scientific, nothing weighed for example, but certainly seems to be happening. I know from past experience if I were to harvest all the honey off the established colonies now and put a freshly extracted sticky on, then they would be more likely to work the tail end of the season and maybe even make me another box. I understand this is a result of chemicals released from the wet? So do bees actually " decide" how hard they will go out and gather on the basis of how much stores they have? Do they " know" how much honey they have stored for winter? How? Is there a chemical stimulus involved ? Or am I just fooled here and the other hives have put their 10 kg in the brood nest too? All theories welcome.