Sealed Brood Area Research Articles

Honeybee Colony Characteristics and Profitability of Pollination Management Systems

SummaryColony characteristics and profitability were examined for 3 systems of honeybee management in the North Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, Canada: (1) moving bees for pollination (current system), (2) honey production without pollination, and (3) package and nucleus production with and without pollination, A total of 60 colonies were used, divided equally into 6 management systems. Gross profit/colony was highest ($109 or $104)* for colonies used for pollination and from which a nucleus or package was removed. The lowest profit ($14.36) was for colonies managed solely for honey production. Measurements of colony weight, sealed worker brood area and surplus honey production indicated that management systems which involve the most intensive colony management for pollination, honey production and bee production do not detract from overall colony vigour and yield the best income, and also can provide a new source of income through the sale of packages and/or nuclei.

Honey Productivity of Honeybee Colonies in Relation to Body Weight, Attractiveness and Fecundity of the Queen

SummaryThe relationship between queen weight, queen attractiveness, sealed brood area, and colony honey production were investigated. Queens' attractiveness to workers varied greatly, but was not correlated with any of the other measured parameters. Queen weight, 18 hours after removal from mating nuclei, averaged 214·4 mg and decreased to 207·9 mg after 8 days of storage and transit. At the peak of the honey flow the average queen weight had increased to 292·9 mg. Honey production was correlated positively both with sealed brood area and with queen weight after removal from the mating nuclei. A practical method of eliminating some of the less productive queens would be to remove them from the mating nuclei, when about 12 days old, and discard the lightest 15–25%.

Events following queen removal in colonies of Africanized honeybees in South America

The timing of queen rearing and swarming are described after queens were removed from colonies of Africanized bees. New queens were reared from newly hatched to three day old worker larvae, many of which were moved in the egg or newly eclosed larval stages by workers into newly constructed queen cells. Mortality of worker eggs and larvae following dequeening was high, averaging 50%. When new queens emerged, swarms issued from two-thirds of the colonies. This process of queen replacement and queen-loss swarming differs from that of reproductive swarming in the lack of preparation before queen loss, longer queenless interval, lack of correlation between number of swarms and sealed brood area or number of queen cells, and lack of Congestion in colonies when swarms issued.