a Paul Hosticka snip followed by > my comment..
The father south you go the less variation there is until you get to the tropics where there is no need for winter bees at all. Photo period is probably only one factor of many but an important one. Pollen availability is no doubt very important but it does not trump latitude.
Has anyone ever mentioned "all beekeeping is local"?
>My experience over a half a dozen locations (half a dozen states) suggest to me that none of these behavioral trail are produced by a single variable. Generally if it was a single variable the outcome would be easy to recognize. Not mentioned (and certainly a surprise to me) is 1) the genetic origin of the queen and 2) with whom she mated.
>As to Paul last sentence not only is 'all beekeeping local' but on frequent occasions the kind of queens and bees kept at a location is of one of the major 'races' of European bees. What each of these type of European bees will respond to environmental I would suspect should have considerable variation (the carni bee is likely a good example).
>At this location most of my bees never really halt brood production for long. Some will stop producing brood in mid November thru late December. Except in the years where we experience severe drought bees have access to pollen almost year long. In those years with severe drought and when pollen supplies are totally absent from the hive naturally the hives will totally halt brood prouction. As a general rule I feed no pollen like product here except in the case of a severe and long term drought.
Gene in Central Texas..
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