Honeybee Queen Rearing DR. AMAL AL-ABBADI AL-BALQA APPLIED UNIVERSITY

Transcription

1 Honeybee Qeen Rearing املؤمتر الدولي األول للهيئة العربية لتربية النحل DONE BY أبو ظبي /2/ DR. AMAL AL-ABBADI AL-BALQA APPLIED UNIVERSITY

2 Introdction Honey bee qeen, mother of all individals in the colony, and it determines with drones the inherited characteristics of the colony. Periodic replacement of old qeens and /or failing qeens by yong and high qality one is an important management practice in commercial beekeeping indstry all over the world.

3 Ø The qeen bee holds the most important position in a colony. Ø The performance of a honey bee colony is the reslt of its qeen s fnction as well as of that of the drones that mated with her. Ø Commercialization of qeen breeding reqires the mass prodction of large nmbers of high qality qeens.

4 Qeen qality Depends on genetic, Environmental factors and good management. Periodical reqeening with yong qeens less than one year old, reslts in more honey prodction than colonies headed by old qeens. Moreover, the loss of a qeen represents a serios threat to the srvival of the honey bee colony and beekeepers freqently reqire new qeens to start new colonies and replace dead or failing qeens.

5 Why we rear qeens Change the blood of honeybee stock. yong qeens are more prolific egg-layers and swarm less than older qeens. To replace failing qeens, lost qeens and for making nclei for sale and expanding the apiary. In raising qeens in his apiary, the beekeeper saves money.

6 Basic criteria There are for basic criteria of. A B C D

7 Basic criteria A. Good honey prodction. A B C D

8 Basic criteria B. Wintering capability. A B C D

9 Basic criteria C. Gentle temper and ease of management. A B C D

10 Basic criteria D. Resistance and adaptability. A B C D

11 Doolittle rearing method

12 Doolittle rearing method

13 The larvae to be grafted shold be well fed from the time they hatch.

14 Doolittle rearing method

15 The breeder colony mst have plenty of yong nrse bees.

16 Doolittle rearing method

17 With a plenty of nectar and pollen the breeder colony.

18 Doolittle rearing method

19 The larvae mst be kept in a warm and hmid environment

20 Doolittle rearing method

21 The cells mst be handled gently and kept in their natral position to prevent damage to the developing qeens. The larvae in the frames and / or qeen cps shold be I wrapped in a warm damp towel or over a pan of warm water. The grafted larvae shold be placed in the swarm box as soon as possible after grafting.

22 Doolittle rearing method

23 After the cells are sealed they mst be kept at the proper temperatre and hmidity in the finishing colony.

24 Doolittle rearing method

25 Be sre the finishing colony contains enogh bees to keep the cells at the proper temperatre and hmidity

26 Doolittle rearing method

27 Day ten: the matre qeen cells shold be placed into nes or, alternatively caged temporarily, so that the first qeen ot cannot kill her sisters. Handle these cells gently, keep them warm and pright and avoid shaking them.

28 POORLY REARED QUEENS OF PRODUCTIVE STOCK GENERALLY WILL BE INFERIOR TO WELL-REARED QUEENS FROM LESS PRODUCTIVE STOCK."

29 Honeybee drone Adeqate rearing and maintenance of healthy drones are essential for sccessfl qeen bee mating. Information on drone bees and their management dring an extended qeen bee mating season has been collated to assist in the development of management programs to provide increased drone nmbers.

30 Honeybee drone A qeen bee mates with an average of 12 drones (range 1 32) and a well reared qeen bee when flly mated can contain from 4.3 million to 7 million spermatozoa in her spermatheca. A figre of 4.5 million is considered adeqate for a commercially reared qeen bee.

31 Qeen with mating sign

32 Qeen bee ses abot 2 million sperm per year and a qeen bee containing less than 3 million sperm after mating can be expected to be sperseded within 12 months nder commercial conditions.

33 Drones matre at abot 16 days of age, and become less sitable for mating after 28 days of age. The average life span of a drone is 55 days, and varies with seasonal conditions. Always we take abot the nmber and motility of spermatozoa

34 How to increase the Capacity of a colony to rear and maintain drones Strong colonies with large nmbers of worker bees rear and maintain more drone brood and adlt drones than weaker colonies.

35 Low nmbers of healthy nrse bees in spring may contribte to problems with spring-reared drones Adlt drones do not feed themselves bt depend on an abndant spply of healthy nrse bees to feed them on honey, pollen and gland secretions.

36 The ability of a colony to maintain a high poplation of adlt drones depends on a continos spply of pollen coming into the colony and not on stored pollen. Only pollen stored in close proximity to brood shows a positive inflence on drone rearing. Strong colonies reqire g of high qality pollen daily ( kg/week). Colonies receiving a continos spply of pollen maintain maximm drone poplations whereas colonies which do not receive a continos spply of pollen have fewer drones.

37 Factors affecting the eviction of drones stops feeding of drones de to a lack of incoming pollen spplies. The absence of a qeen bee also redces eviction, thogh not by as mch as an abndance of pollen. A redction in external hive temperatre in hives containing a laying qeen or laying workers contribtes towards drone eviction. Weather conditions nsitable for pollen prodction by plants or which prevent pollen collection by foraging worker bees may reslt in drone eviction.

38 Extending the drone breeding season The most important strategy fond was to ensre that colonies are fed pollen and/or pollen spplements on a reglar and consistent basis. An alternative method for maintaining adlt drones ot of season involves removing the qeen from the hive and providing frames of bees and brood from a qeen-right colony and spplying pollen on a reglar basis.

39 The for basic reqirements 1. Presence of plenty of pollen grains 2. Use strong colonies headed by a proven qeen preferably more than one year old. 3. Drones are prodced earlier if a drone comb is placed in the middle of the brood chamber in atmn, preferably a comb with a mixtre of drone and worker cells. In spring add one or two frames containing drone cells as hive strength and weather conditions allow. 4. Drone mother colonies reqire the same amont of management as qeen cell raising colonies.

40 Atmn honeybee qeens and their relation to the seasonality of brood, adlt poplations and honey prodction This research work was done in the northern part of Jordan (Ajlon and Jarash). The main prpose was to make a comparison between the qeens that reared in Atmn with those that rear in spring time. The comparison was done mainly on the nmber of prodced qeens, their reprodctive ability and the amont of honey prodced.

41 Methodology One colony was selected from among 100 strong colonies with sperior featres in the apiary to obtain breeding larvae and for rearing natral qeen cells. For colonies, of which two were sed as beginning and two as finishing colonies were selected again from among strong colonies. In addition, a total of 30 colonies were formed as standard five-frame nclei colonies

42 Methodology Qeens were reared sing Doolittle rearing method The same procedre was done in atmn and spring time. Nmber of grafted larvae, Nmber of accepted cells, Grafting yield (%),Nmber of emerging qeen bees, Rate of emergence (%), Nmber of mating qeen bees, Rate of mating (%), Sealed qeen cell length (mm), Emergence weight (mg), Pre-oviposition period (days), Diameter of spermatheca (mm), the parameters that measred.

43 Reslts and Discssion Reslts of larvae transfer and mating Featre Atmn time Spring time Nmber of grafted larvae Nmber of accepted cells Grafting yield (%) Nmber of emerging qeen bees Rate of emergence (%) Nmber of mating qeen bees Rate of mating (%) 86 91

44 Reslts and Discssion Varios featres of qeen bees Qeen rearing time Sealed qeen cell length (mm) Emergence weight (mg) Preoviposition period (days) Diameter of spermatheca (mm) Atmn qeens Spring qeens

45 Reslts and Discssion The average honey prodction (kilogram) of the honeybee colonies headed by original qeens and other headed by qeens reared in atmn time and spring time for two seasons. Honey prodction (kg) First season (ecalypts) Second season ( SILYBUM MARIANUM) mother colonies Atmn qeens colonies (the new divided colonies) Spring qeens colonies (the new divided colonies)

46 First season (ecalypts)

47 Reslts and Discssion The average honey prodction (kilogram) of the honeybee colonies headed by original qeens and other headed by qeens reared in atmn time and spring time for two seasons. Honey prodction (kg) First season (ecalypts) Second season ( SILYBUM MARIANUM) mother colonies Atmn qeens colonies (the new divided colonies) Spring qeens colonies (the new divided colonies)

48 Second season (SILYBUM MARIANUM)

49 Conclsion and recommendations We cold conclde that the atmn honeybee qeens are sperior than the spring qeens in the colony strength and honey prodction. It is well recommended to rear qeens in atmn to obtain strong colonies early in the season and to gain a high amont of honey. Choosing the mother qeen is very important to get high qality qeens

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