Queen Banks
By means of: Clarence Collison
Queen banking is the garage of queens in my view in cages and positioned in a colony to be cared for through employee bees. Northern California queen manufacturers financial institution extra queens as seasonal call for subsides within the Summer season to offer an on-demand provide to beekeepers. This learn about investigated the possible to financial institution honey bee queens indoors as an efficient gadget right through the Summer season. This analysis when put next present Summer season outside queen banking practices in northern California with banking in indoor temperature-controlled garage amenities. Remedies had been separated into 3 teams: indoor queen banks, outside queen banks and a suite of unbanked regulate queens. 3 other stocking charges had been examined (50, 100 and 198 queens in line with financial institution). Queen high quality parameters and survival knowledge had been assessed the use of laboratory and box evaluate strategies. There was once no important distinction in queen high quality parameters except for the load of indoor queens banked on the fee of 100, which have been considerably less than the opposite banking charges. There was once an important distinction within the survival of various stocking charges. Queens banked indoors at a fee of 100 had been much more likely to live on than different stocking charges, each indoor and outside. Queens banked outside on the fee of 198 had been much more likely to live on than different outside banking charges. Queens saved indoors had a considerably upper survival of 78 ± 1% than queens saved outside with a survival of 62 ± 3%. Indoor banking carried out higher in high quality and survival as in comparison to outside queen banking. Subsequently, indoor queen banking has the possible to mitigate greater chance to the precious Fall queen provide led to through emerging, sizzling, Summer season temperatures (Onayemi, 2021; Webb et al., 2023).
The mass garage of mated honey bee queens in reservoir colonies over the Wintry weather was once investigated beneath continental climatic stipulations. The mated queens had been saved in (a) queenright reservoir (QRR) colonies on a body with partitioned honeycomb, (b) QRR colonies on body retaining cord display screen cages, (c) queenless reservoir (QLR) colonies on body with partitioned honeycomb and (d) QLR colonies on body retaining cord display screen cages. Along with mass garage, the queens had been in my view wintered in colonies held in Kirchainer mating hives and in 5 body nucleus hives with usual combs because the regulate crew. The queen survival in reservoir colonies was once seen from October 2000 to March 2001. No queen survived the Wintry weather in QRR colonies, while 16.7% of the queens saved in display screen cages and 40.5% of the queens on honeycomb in QLR colonies survived for 5 months. The queen survival in mating hives and in 5 body nucleus hives was once 80.0% and 83.3%, respectively. Reproductive performances of surviving queens overwintered in reservoir colonies, mating hives and 5 body nucleus hives had been evaluated through evaluating brood spaces and grownup bee populations produced in take a look at colonies. There have been no variations in numbers of frames of bees and in brood manufacturing of queens in take a look at colonies. Thus, mass garage of queens over the Wintry weather didn’t impair their reproductive efficiency (Gencer, 2003).
Productiveness of honey bee queens in Canada, as measured through space of sealed employee brood and internet weight of colonies, was once usually upper with queens overwintered in two body nuclei, than with queens overwintered in a gaggle. Deficient acceptance and supersedure of crew overwintered queens recommend that this technique of garage isn’t but applicable for industrial use. Survival of the nucleus queens was once low in outside two body devices right through the Wintry weather however advanced with an indoor gadget. Overwintering queens indoors in two body nuclei and outside in 3 to 5 body nuclei with supplemental feeding of carbohydrate in past due Wintry weather will have to supply a supply of queens which might partly satisfy marketplace calls for within the Spring (Mitchell et al., 1985).
Queen cages organized in a retaining body aspect to aspect with cord netting opening for nurse bees to feed queens. Picture from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00218839.2023.2165747, used with permission.
Spring imports of queen honey bees are crucial to switch Wintry weather colony losses in Canada, however give a contribution to the unfold of treatment-resistant traces of pathogens and unwanted genetic characteristics. A imaginable choice to those imports is the mass garage of queens right through Wintry weather. By means of overwintering a robust colony (queen financial institution) containing huge numbers of mated queens remoted in cages, beekeepers may achieve native queens early within the Spring. On this learn about, the efficacy of overwintering queen banks at two other queen densities (40 and 80) was once examined. Within the 40-queen banks (40 QB), 74.2% of queens survived the six month overwintering duration, whilst 42.1% of queens survived within the 80-queen banks (80 QB). When in comparison to queens overwintered unfastened of their colony, queens from financial institution colonies had been smaller and lighter in early Spring however had identical sperm viability and sperm depend. Overwintering queens in banks didn’t have an have an effect on on their acceptance in a nucleus colony however diminished their oviposition within the preliminary weeks following their creation. After a number of days in nucleus colonies, queens from banks had regained a dimension and weight very similar to that of queens overwintered generally, suggesting that they might carry out neatly over an entire beekeeping season (Levesque et al., 2023).
The manufacturing of younger, mated queens is very important to switch useless queens or to begin new colonies after wintering. Mass garage of mated queens right through Wintry weather and their use the next Spring is an engaging technique that would assist satisfy this want. On this learn about, the survival, fertility and fecundity of younger, mated queens saved vastly in queenless colonies from September to April (8 months) was once investigated. The queens had been stored in environmentally managed rooms at temperatures above and underneath cluster formation. The effects display that indoor mass garage of mated queens may also be accomplished with luck when queen banks are saved above cluster temperature. A considerably upper survival of queens was once measured when wintering queen banks at 16°C (60.8°F). Surviving queens wintered at other temperatures above or underneath cluster formation had identical fertility (sperm viability) and fecundity (egg laying and viable employee inhabitants). This learn about displays the possibility of indoor overwintering of honey bee queen banks. This system might be carried out on a industrial scale through beekeepers and queen breeders (Rousseau and Giovenazzo, 2021).
The impact of garage cage stage (higher or decrease) and its place (peripheral or center positions) on weight, survival fee and egg laying capability of queens saved in queenright colonies for more than a few garage sessions was once studied. Storing mated queens on this manner had an important impact on their weight after 75 days of garage. The method of queen weight had been 174.9 and 167.4mg for the higher and decrease strips, respectively appearing the prevalence of the higher one. A vital building up within the imply weight of queens saved within the center place (172.5mg) was once spotted evaluating to peripheral ones (169.8mg). The entire saved queens had considerably higher weight than their unique weight earlier than garage right through the other sessions of experiment. There have been important variations within the survival fee of mated queens saved in several ranges, because the imply survival fee of queens saved within the higher strip (69.3%) was once upper than the survival fee of mated queens saved within the decrease one (60.1%). The queens saved in center place attained a considerably upper survival fee (70.7%), than the ones saved in peripheral ones (58.7%). The entire survival fee was once negatively influenced with the rise of garage duration. In admire of egg laying capability measured as sealed employee brood space, queens saved for 45 days produced a considerably higher sealed brood space (875.5cm2) than that produced through queens saved for 75 days (843.2cm2) (Al-Fattah et al., 2016).
Mass garage of queens over the Wintry weather was once investigated in colony banks, with each and every queen held in her personal cage inside a colony. The key remedies integrated: (I) a unmarried queen wintered in a small nucleus colony (regulate); and colony banks with 24 or 48 queens, each and every held in my view in (II) display screen cages that avoided staff from coming into the cage, however allowed get entry to for queen tending, (III) queen-excluder cages (queen-excluder subject matter has openings of about 55mm that save you the bigger queen however now not the smaller staff from passing throughout the subject matter), or (IV) display screen cages till January and next switch to mini-nuclei till past due March. Queens held in excluder cages confirmed deficient survival in all 3 years of checking out, and the program was once now not viable for industrial use; survival for anyone yr, or any excluder medication, was once by no means more than 25%. Against this, a two yr reasonable of 60% queen survival was once discovered for queens that had been saved in person screened wood cages inside queenless colony banks. No variations in survival of banked queens that had been moved between colonies per 30 days and those who remained in the similar colony for 6 months was once discovered. The luck of those programs required the (a) preparation of colony banks that contained huge numbers of grownup staff produced through keeping up colonies with two queens right through the former Summer season, (b) elimination of laying queen(s) right through the garage duration, (c) feeding of colonies neatly and (d) insulation of colonies in teams of 4, to maintain warmth and cut back employee clustering within the Wintry weather. Surviving queens from Wintry weather garage programs had been just about similar in high quality and colony efficiency to regulate queens the following season (Wyborn et al., 1993).
This Egyptian learn about aimed to analyze some components affecting saved mated queens’ weight and survival fee in addition to submit garage efficiency of those queens after 75 days of garage inside queenright colonies. Storing queens in numbers of 20, 30 and 40 had no important impact on their weight. Imply weight of queen saved in excluder cages (EC) was once considerably upper than the ones saved in display screen mesh ones (SC). The imply weight of saved queens within the higher strip was once upper than the imply of the decrease one. Queens saved in peripheral and center of a retaining body didn’t fluctuate considerably from each and every different. In regards to the queens’ survival fee, the imply survival fee of 20 saved mated queens was once the awesome rank, whilst the survival fee of 30 and 40 saved mated queens got here subsequent with out a important variations between them. Queens saved in SC had extra important survival fee than the ones saved in EC. The higher strip had the next survival fee than the decrease one. Queens saved in the midst of a retaining body confirmed considerably upper survival fee than the ones within the peripheral. Referring to submit garage efficiency, no important variations had been detected between the brood spaces produced through queens saved for 45 or 75 days within the 3 densities. Queens saved for 45 days and the ones within the higher stage had a considerably upper brood manufacturing than the ones saved for 75 days and the ones saved within the decrease stage. Queens saved for 45 and 75 days had no important variations in supersedure percentages both saved within the 3 densities, in two ranges or within the two positions. The second one a part of the learn about concerned the storing of virgin queens. This paintings was once aimed to analyze the impact of colony and garage cage sort on queens’ survival fee, orphan duration on attracted staff in addition to garage duration and colony power on queens beauty and acceptance. Queens saved in Benton cages (BC) had the next insignificant survival fee than the ones saved in rising ones (EMC). Storing queens in queenless colonies ended in a extra important survival fee than the ones saved in queenright ones. Expanding the colonies orphan duration attracted extra important staff to outdated queens. This beauty greater considerably with the rise of queen age from 3 to 30 days outdated. The more youthful and older virgin queens had been considerably extra authorised than the intermediate ones. The typical collection of attracted staff in nuclei was once considerably more than the ones recorded in sturdy colonies and in order the acceptance percentages (El-Din, 2016).
The survival of caged newly-emerged virgin queens each day for seven days in an experiment that concurrently investigated 3 components: queen cage sort (wood three-hole or plastic), attendant staff (provide or absent) and meals sort (sugar sweet, honey or each) was once studied. Ten queens had been examined in each and every of the 12 combos. Queens had been reared the use of usual beekeeping strategies (Doolittle/grafting) and emerged from their cells into vials held in an incubator at 34°C (93.2°F). All 12 combos gave prime survival (90 or 100%) for 3 days however just one means (wood cage, with attendants, honey) gave 100% survival to day seven. Components affecting queen survival had been analyzed. Throughout all combos, attendant bees considerably greater survival (18% vs. 53%, p<0.001). As well as, there was once an interplay between meals sort and cage sort (p<0.001) with the honey and plastic cage mixture giving diminished survival. An extra crew of queens was once reared and held for seven days the use of the most efficient means, after which immediately presented the use of smoke into queenless nucleus colonies that have been dequeened 5 days prior to now. Acceptance was once prime (80%, 8/10) appearing that this mix may be appropriate for getting ready queens for creation into colonies. Having a easy means for preserving newly-emerged virgin queens alive in cages for one week and applicable for creation into queenless colonies will probably be helpful in honey bee breeding. Particularly, it facilitates the screening of many queens for genetic or phenotypic traits when just a small percentage meets the required standards. Those can then be presented into queenless hives for herbal mating or insemination, either one of which occur when queens are one week outdated (Bigio et al., 2012).
Despite the fact that there are some recommended sides of banking queens, there may also be some unwanted effects at the saved queens. Lots of the queen banking tactics contain caging queens in more than a few sorts of cages. Zajdel et al. (2020) reported that queens saved in “queen banks” undergo basically from leg accidents once they reviewed a large number of research. Queen accidents related to caging come with: 1) adjustments within the colour of the arolia (pad-like lobes projecting between the tarsal claws), 2) lacking leg segments or lacking complete legs, 3) arolium deformation and partial or whole lack of arolia and claws and four) frayed wings and lack of antennae or antennal segments. Leg paralysis, most certainly because of stings, has additionally been reported. Those accidents affect the queen’s motor and sensory skills and disqualify them as top of the range queens. Even a small collection of queens saved in a single colony are uncovered to accidents from employee bees. Accidents to queens had been seen irrespective of the age of the employees getting to them and the presence of brood within the bee colony.
References
Al-Fattah, M.A.A.W. Abd, H. A. Sharaf El-Din and Y. Y. Ibrahim 2016. Components affecting the standard of mated honey bee queens saved for various sessions in queen-right financial institution colonies. Impact of cage stage and place on retaining body. J. Apic. Res. 55: 284-291.
Bigio, G., C. Grüter and F.L.W. Ratnieks 2012. Evaluating choice strategies for containing virgin honey bee queens for one week in mailing cages earlier than mating. PLoS ONE 7(11) e50150. https//doi.org/10.1371/magazine pone 0050160
El-Din, H.A.S. 2016. Honey bee Queens Efficiency In Relation To Their Lengthy Duration Garage In Queenright Colonies. PhD Dissertation, Cairo College, 158 pp.
Gencer, H.V. 2003. Overwintering of honey bee queens en mass in reservoir colonies in a temperate local weather and its impact on queen efficiency. J. Apic. Res. 42: 61-64.
Levesque, M., A. Rousseau and P. Giovenazzo 2023. Affects of indoor mass garage of 2 densities of honey bee queens (Apis mellifera) right through Wintry weather on queen survival, reproductive high quality and colony efficiency. J. Apic. Res. 62: 274-286.
Mitchell, S.R., D. Bates, M.L. Winston and D.M. McCutcheon 1985. Comparability of honey bee queens overwintered in my view and in teams. J. Entomol. Soc. Of British Columbia. 82: 35-39.
Onayemi, S.O. 2021. Indoor Queen Banking As An Choice To Outside Banking, M.S. Thesis, Washington State College, 35 pp.
Rousseau, A. and P. Giovenazzo 2021. A success indoor mass garage of honey bee queens (Apis mellifera) right through Wintry weather. Agriculture 11: 402.
Webb, A., S.O. Onayemi, R.L. Olsson, Ok. Kulhanek, and B.Ok. Hopkins 2023. Summer season indoor queen banking as an alternative choice to outside queen banking practices. J. Apic. Res. 62: 471-477.
Wyborn, M.H., M.L. Winston and P.H. Laflamme 1993. Mass garage of honey bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) queens right through the Wintry weather. Can. Entomol. 125: 113-128.
Zajdel, B., Z. Jasinski, and Ok. Kucharska 2020. Are drones injured right through garage in personal and stranger queenright colonies (Apis mellifera carnica)? J. Agr. Sci. Tech. 22: 453-463.
Clarence Collison is an Emeritus Professor of Entomology and Division Head Emeritus of Entomology and Plant Pathology at Mississippi State College, Mississippi State, MS.