Effective ways of keeping queen bees before and after instrumental insemination

Abstract

The article presents theoretical and experimental data on the results of the instrumental insemination and alimentation of queen bees. Queen bees were bred and inseminated. It has been established that when using various methods of keeping queen bees, a dynamic pattern is observed when there is safekeeping of queen bees. So, in 2019, before insemination in all experimental groups, the death of 1 to 4 infertile queens was observed. The highest indicator was recorded in the first experimental group; this is due to the fact that there were not enough young bees in the transfer cells to fully feed the infertile queen. In 2020, when using various methods of keeping queen bees before and after insemination, a similar pattern is observed with respect to the safety of queen bees. In a comparative aspect, before and after insemination, a high death rate of queens was recorded in the I-experimental group - 4 pcs, respectively fetal - 16 pcs. Whereas in the II-experimental and IV-experimental groups, the safest keeping of 18-19 queens was recorded respectively. Whereas in 2021, the greatest safety of fetal queen bees was in the IV-experimental group - 90%, and in the II-experimental and III-experimental groups, 85% each in comparison with the I-experimental group - 75%. Consequently, when using the method of keeping infertile queens in the transfer cells with accompanying bees, 5 pieces each, there is a high death rate of queen bees. It was also confirmed that the method of keeping queens in a nursery frame without accompanying bees is less effective compared to the method of keeping queens in a nursery frame without accompanying bees. Also, when obtaining fetal queens by instrumental insemination, attention should be focused on phenotypic indicators when selecting infertile queens, since the size of the queen bee is directly correlated with the number of egg tubes and, accordingly, affects the egg production of the fetal queen bee.