>I wonder -- and maybe Zach can help me with this, since it is right down
his
>alley --
>
>i.) How early after emerging bees physically can fly.  I suspect this may
>depend on how well the larvae were fed, since I see some pretty weak
>looking baby bees in malnourished hives and

**You got lucky again:) I have unpublished data showing that bees take 5-7
days to fly -- none would be able to fly on day 1 (same day as emergence),
about 5% next day, ... 100% takes 5-7 days depending on colony.  THis is
temperature dependent. I reared bees at 25 C and they are not able to fly
at all on day 8. I am still waiting for data to show that temperature can
affect flight muscle structure before I publish the data.

>
>ii.) How far from the brood baby bees wander, since the supers we set aside
>from abandoning were sometimes mere inches from brood, but separated from
>it by an excluder.

I would say 95% of bees <4 days old stay on open/sealed brood. because they
want to stay at warmer area to develop their flight muscles. Tome Seeley
actuall mapped distribution of bees at different locations (in an
observation hive) as they aged.

>
>iii.) Will baby bees go through an excluder?  Maybe that explains
>everything.

**I am sure they can, if there are brood upstairs...

>If the bees do switch to foraging early in a heavy flow, perhaps that,
along with the competition for cells from incoming nectar, helps explain the
>reduction in brood rearing and queen raising during a heavy flow.

**Earlier foraging in a heavy flow is predicted by my social inhibition
model (more foragers out, more time foragers spend time outside, means less
contact with younger bees to inhibit them).  there are some data from other
scientists that are consistent with this idea. but nobody has actually
delibrately tested the idea.  Next time you can tag some bees and see if
this true :)

>Thanks, all, for your input on this interesting question.

**Zachary Huang, MSU

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