>
> >This time of the year (fall) it is not uncommon for bees to cut back on
> brood rearing, leading them to dump out healthy larvae.


Pete, the dumping of healthy larvae is not something that I've observed.
I see bees cannibalizing young larvae, but they are not moved to the bottom
board, and I never see them partially eaten.
I see bees removing chilled pupae after a cold night.

However, as far as I've seen, bees do not remove pupae when they are cutting
back on brood rearing.  This would make little biological sense, since they
have so much invested in the pupae, they need the young adults, and there is
no further input necessary to maintain the pupae other than keeping warm
(hence no removal unless they are chilled at the periphery of the brood
nest).

Have you actually observed the removal of healthy larvae?

Randy Oliver

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