Lone,
I am glad you picked up on the pollen nutrition. When CCD hit here, it was the first thing I looked at, and presented this site to the CCD working group in January 2007.
http://www.honeybee.com.au/Library/pollen/nutrition.htmlSeems fall dwindling was looked at 20 years ago, and I applaude Australia for looking into and analyzing pollen nutrition at that time. I think commercial beekeepers who place bees on mega operations and have bees feed on a single source pollen crops for extended periods, to which poor nutrition may be at play, would be best to be well versed on such matters.
As for queen rearing, pollen does play a role, but this is not the only factor. What that site does tell you, is that some pollen is downright bad for bees, and supplemental pollen feeding may be augmented to offset poor pollen nutrition, or periods of poor pollen availability. I am not an expert on queen rearing in your country. But certainly feeding syrup and pollen patties is considered a must for many queen producers.
The thing that everyone should walk away with from that site, is the data and research that clearly shows what happens when bees overwinter with no pollen, or poor nutritious pollen. (whether this is connected to CCD or not).
