Successful Indoor Mass Storage of Honeybee Queens (Apis mellifera) during Winter

Andrée Rousseau,Pierre Giovenazzo

doi:10.3390/agriculture11050402

Andrée Rousseau, Pierre Giovenazzo

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture11050402

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Abstract

The production of young, mated honeybee queens (Apis mellifera) is essential to replace dead queens or to start new colonies after wintering. Mass storage of mated honeybee queens during winter and their use the following spring is an interesting strategy that could help fulfill this need. In this study, we investigated the survival, fertility, and fecundity of young, mated queens stored massively in queenless colonies from September to April (eight months). The queens were kept in environmentally controlled rooms at temperatures above and below cluster formation. The results show that indoor mass storage of mated queens can be achieved with success when queen banks are stored above cluster temperature. Significantly higher survival of queens was measured when wintering queen banks at 16 °C. Surviving queens wintered at different temperatures above or below cluster formation had similar fertility (sperm viability) and fecundity (egg laying and viable worker population). This study shows the potential of indoor overwintering of honeybee queen banks. The technique we describe could be applied on a commercial scale by beekeepers and queen breeders.

Highlights

Young, mated honeybee queens (Apis mellifera) are essential to replace dead queens or to start new colonies when multiplying livestock
The average temperature recorded in queen banks was always above outdoor apiary temperature
At the end of the first week of the experiment (9 September, day 9), 48 of the 600 queens introduced initially in the 15 different banking colonies had died, and there was no significant difference between the queen banks

Summary

Introduction

Young, mated honeybee queens (Apis mellifera) are essential to replace dead queens or to start new colonies when multiplying livestock. The locally produced queens become available later in spring when environmental conditions improve [4,5] and queens must be imported early spring from warmer climate countries to fulfill industry demand [6]. This importation of honeybee stock is associated with several abiotic and biotic risks and issues [7], such as unwanted genotypes (e.g., the Africanized bee), exotic pathogens and parasites (e.g., the small hive beetle, Aethina tumida) or pathogens and parasites resistant to existing treatments (e.g., the foulbrood causing bacteria resistant to oxytetracycline). Along with the rising price of imported queens, all these factors justify efforts to increase the domestic supply of queens early spring

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