Events following queen removal in colonies of european-derived honey bee races (Apis mellifera)

Abstract

The timing of queen rearing and swarming are described after queens were removed from colonies of European-derived honey bee races. Queen cell construction began within one day of queen loss, and 91 % of the queens which emerged were eggs at the time of queen loss. Queen cells were evenly distributed over the comb face, and 4 % of the brood reared as queens were moved from worker cells to queen cups. There was considerable variation in the number of queen cells which were viable, aborted, and unoccupied. Brood mortality was high following queen loss. Six of the eight study colonies swarmed following the emergence of a virgin queen. These results differ from previous studies of queen loss in tropically-evolved honey bees in the timing of new queen production and the frequency of queen-loss swarming and of brood movement by workers.