Queen Bee: Biology, Rearing and Breeding

by David R Woodward

Overview

Divided into three major chapters with many sub-sections, this book is a definitive guide to the biology and breeding of queen bees. Chapter one covers queen bee biology, chapter two looks at queen bee rearing, and chapter three covers queen bee breeding.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781904846352
Publisher:	Northern Bee Books
Publication date:	12/18/2014
Pages:	190
Sales rank:	766,952
Product dimensions:	6.60(w) x 9.50(h) x 0.50(d)

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Queen Bee Biology 1

1.0 Introduction 1

1.1 Castes of the honey bee 3

1.2 Anatomy and lifecycle of the honey bee 5

1.3 Reproductive system of the drone and queen 11

1.4 Caste determination 12

1.5 Caste developmental stages 13

1.6 Drone production and development 14

1.7 Queen cell development 15

1.8 Queen bee post emergence activity 15

1.9 Queen and drone mating 16

1.10 Queen egg laying 18

1.11 Queen pheromones 19

1.12 Queen bee rearing impulses 20

1.13 Visual perception and navigation 24

1.14 Queen and drone abnormalities and diseases 26

Chapter 2 Queen Bee Rearing 29

2.1 Queen Rearing Equipment 29

2.1.0 Introduction 29

2.1.1 Cell bars and queen cell cups 29

2.1.2 Grafting tools 31

2.1.3 Cloake board, pheromone excluder and queen excluder 31

2.1.4 Queen cell incubator 32

2.1.5 Emergence cages and cell protectors 33

2.1.6 Protective equipment 34

2.1.7 Hive components for queen rearing 35

2.1.8 Nucleus hive 38

2.1.9 Mailing cages 39

2.2 Queen Rearing by Grafting 42

2.2.0 Introduction 42

2.2.1 Breeder egg laying 42

2.2.2 Confining the queen bee 42

2.2.3 Queen cell cup priming 43

2.2.4 Varroa management 44

2.2.5 Finding the queen bee 44

2.2.6 Removing the queen bee 45

2.2.7 Queen rearing impulses 46

2.2.8 Establishing cell builder hives 47

2.2.9 Grafting larvae 51

2.2.10 Swarm box and starter hive 52

2.2.11 Double grafting 53

2.2.12 Cloake board management method 54

2.2.13 Determining queen bee performance 58

2.3 Queen Rearing without Grafting 59

2.3.0 Introduction 59

2.3.1 Simple rearing 59

2.3.2 Miller method of queen rearing 60

2.3.3 Alley method of queen rearing 60

2.3.4 Ezi queen and jenter method of queen rearing 61

2.3.5 Royal jelly production 63

2.4 Capture and Transport of Queen Bees 64

2.4.0 Introduction 64

2.4.1 Marking and clipping wings 64

2.4.2 Queen candy 65

2.4.3 Mailing queen bees 66

2.4.4 Queen introduction 66

2.4.5 Banking queen bees 67

2.4.6 Export certification 68

2.4.7 Package bees 68

2.5 Swarming and Nucleus Hives 70

2.5.0 Introduction 70

2.5.1 Problems with swarming 70

2.5.2 Factors causing swarming 70

2.5.3 Indicators of swarming 71

2.5.4 Preventing swarming 71

2.5.5 Making splits/divisions/tops 73

2.5.6 Two queen hives 74

2.5.7 Nucleus hives 75

2.5.8 Making up a nucleus hive 75

2.5.9 Uses of nucleus hives 77

2.5.10 Locating nucleus hives 78

2.5.11 Uniting hives 79

2.5.12 Shifting nucleus hives 80

2.6 Honey Bee Nutrition 81

2.6.0 Introduction 81

2.6.1 Foods collected by honey bees 81

2.6.2 Nutritional requirements of honey bees 82

2.6.3 Bee metabolism 84

2.6.4 Practical aspects of bee nutrition 86

2.6.5 Carbohydrate feeding 86

2.6.6 Protein feeding 88

2.6.7 Pollen supplements 88

2.6.8 Pollen substitutes 90

Chapter 3 Queen Bee Breeding 91

3.1 Genetics and Reproduction 91

3.1.0 Introduction 91

3.1.1 Genetics 91

3.1.2 Reproduction 92

3.1.3 Sex alleles 95

3.1.4 Breeding for beekeepers 95

3.2 Stock Selection and Improvement 97

3.2.0 Introduction 97

3.2.1 Recording honey production 97

3.2.2 Assessing honey production 98

3.2.3 Record keeping 100

3.2.4 Selection criteria 101

3.3 Breeding Programmes 106

3.3.0 Introduction 106

3.3.1 Races of honey bee 106

3.3.2 Identification of race 107

3.3.3 Problems with bee breeding 109

3.3.4 Preventing inbreeding 110

3.3.5 Establishing a breeding programme 111

3.3.6 Synchronising queen and drone maturity 112

3.3.7 Establishing a mating yard 112

3.3.8 Isolated mating 113

3.3.9 Selective breeding programmes 114

3.3.10 Varroa tolerant breeding programme 116

3.4 Instrumental Insemination 118

3.4.0 Introduction 118

3.4.1 Benefits of instrumental insemination 118

3.4.2 Insemination equipment 119

3.4.3 Queen anatomy and insemination procedure 122

3.4.4 Drone anatomy and semen collection 122

3.4.5 Mounting queen in holder 124

3.4.6 Monitoring inseminated queen bees 126

3.4.7 Encountering problems 127

3.4.8 Semen mixing and storage 127

Acknowledgements 128

General Glossary 129

Glossary of Anatomy and Development 132

Bibliography 135