Bumble bee too small to breed?

[RobNJ]

I always have a few animals that will start only on one type of rodent, and stick to it. Mice aren't any more likely to be that rodent, though.

In my experience it's much easier to get a mouse eater that's eaten a few rats back on mice than it is to get a rat eater that's eaten a few mice back on rats.

From all that I've seen, I just cannot believe that breeding females under 1500 grams is healthy for them, or in their best interests at all, and I've seen much to suggest it's definitely not.
Your mileage may vary, but I don't think you're going to find any 1400 gram females laying 13 egg clutches, like the one I got from my big 3500 gram girl.
Nor will you find any female bred at 1200 grams reaching 3500 grams...their growth slows dramatically when they start breeding too young.

I'm going to have to say it depends on the individual. I bred a 3 year old, thick 1,200 gram female last year that gave me a perfect clutch of 4 eggs(I don't particularly mind small clutches). Her recovery after laying was miles ahead of any of my larger females on the same feeding schedule, and she has surpassed a couple of them in size(currently 2,000+ grams). She currently has 7-8 developing follicles...so I would say that if this were to be a continuing trend, she'll have no problem at all getting big and regularly dropping 10+ egg clutches.