Hi Peter

> Right, but bees can select which larvae to rear. This is demonstrated by the
> queenless colonies choosing which larvae to rear into queens, preferring
> certain bloodlines over others.

If they were doing this with worker brood there would be an awful lot of 
holes where brood had been eaten, and even if these were re-laid by the 
queen subsequent eating of eggs would cause yet more holes or at least 
ragged capping times.

The workers would need to be skewed in terms of their patriline, in 
order that one subset of eggs could be favoured in the first place and 
we know that colonies with few patrilines are poorly equipped to do a 
good job.


Regards & Best 73s, Dave Cushman, G8MZY
http://melliferabees.net Email: [log in to unmask]
Short FallBack M/c, Build 7.21/2.01
Son of ORAC M/c, Build 5.o1/2.o1

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