"Since mean (as
opposed to median) longevity is around 35 days, with a greater proportion
dying earlier than that, one would expect the majority to die in less than
a month--even less if food was scarce."

If food is scare this forces a lot  of field activity and should result in earlier death I would think.  However, if food is plentiful I think swarm bees might just last past normal expectations just like queenless bees.  As long as the bees are not depleting their fat bodies they act like winter bees and have long life.  In a swarm there is about a week after swarming when there is no brood to feed and no major foraging so for that period fat bodies should remain stable.  Then amount of brood to feed ramps up slowly due to lack of drawn comb so fat bodies would not need to be depleted as fast as normal.  Has anyone marked bees in a swarm to try and document life expectancy?  Seems like a logical test someone should have done but I do not recall ever seeing such data.

Dick

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html