Randy Oliver:

It would not be surprising if propolis is a component of the bee immune
system at the colony level.  Of course, its efficacy would likely vary with
the plant species available.

Reply:
It has been written back in 1960s even when many antibiotics play out only propolis is left for working concerning human health, so why wouldn't it enhance the bee immune system also as the broodnest is the heart of the hive like a living liver working in a human the way the bees use it. And, yes, its efficacy would vary very much but dependent upon cell size for many medicinal plants are small and tiny and LC bees just do not fit into them unfortunately, and with upsizing 40-60% depending upon cell size used for today's foundations, you change size that much physically, you also change flight and foraging parameters and that means for research then, you have to look at the whole picture, which would include propolis from natural sized honeybees in tune with Nature, vs those overlly enlarged to see was has been artificially changed to the detrikment of the bees by man. Until this is done for long-haul research, the  propolis being looked at would be
 questionable not knowing the cell size of the honeybees in tests and what size bees on that propolis was collected from, like it or not..............For propolis collected from bees on an enlarged system, then I cannot see paralleling the real world for good scienctific results...........
 
Dee A. Lusby


      

****************************************************
* General Information About BEE-L is available at: *
* http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/default.htm   *
****************************************************