>If workers were indeed living only half as long, we would have definitely noticed the huge decrease in colony size.

Just curious- is it possible we are breeding for more fecundity and potential reduced lifespan is being at least partially offset by increased egg laying rate?

Just thinking through your comment about late-starters:


'Once a colony establishes a broodnest large enough for a queen to hit her laying capacity, it indeed grows at a linear rate, but then slows way down at about 48 days. That slowdown causes colonies with head starts to lose their lead, allowing colonies s lagging slightly behind to catch up. Secondly, if a late-starting queen lays even 100 more eggs per day than an early starter, her colony will gain nearly 4000 bees more than the early starter over the next 48 days.'

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