I feel I am extra inquisitive about the possible created by way of the identity of the maternal impact in honey bees than the rest beekeeping-related within the final decade.
In all probability I wish to get out extra?
I first discussed the maternal impact in a put up titled ‘Larger queens, higher queens – section 1‘. I am not going to rehash the science right here. You will have to return and skim that put up for the gory main points clinical proof. And – when you are at it – do not disregard the prequel, and is the reason why larger queens are higher queens.
Extra analysis is wanted, however the important thing commentary is that queens lay larger eggs in queen cups than they do in employee cells. Those turn out to be larger queens. Moreover, those larger queens ‘carry out’ higher when it comes to brood manufacturing, and the trait seems to be inherited.
Larger than what?
Larger than queens reared from day-old grafted employee larvae.
So what?
Inexperienced persons and the grafting-averse
In a nutshell because of this rookies or beekeepers who can not graft (insecurity, deficient eyesight, unsteady fingers and so forth.) will have to nonetheless have the ability to rear completely excellent queens.
After all, they may be able to already.
Splits, the usage of swarm cells, or just including a body of eggs/larvae to a terminally queenless colony will all yield queen cells.
However, if you need a number of, or you need them in an ‘simple to maintain’ layout (e.g. no connected comb), or you need a little bit extra keep watch over over all of the procedure (e.g. of timing or quantity), then grafting larvae into plastic cellular cups is find out how to pass.
With the exception of it comes to grafting 😞.
I have misplaced depend of the choice of beekeepers I have talked to who’ve attempted grafting, completed best restricted good fortune, after which given up in favour of ‘more straightforward’ approaches.
Two feedback on grafting prior to I transfer on … in the beginning, even those that now use it often have been much less a hit after they began. Unsurprisingly, observe makes best … or no less than improves issues to the purpose the place it may be robotically depended upon.
This used to be my revel in, and my first grafts of the season are in most cases much less a hit than next ones.
Secondly, grafting is so broadly used, I would be shocked if much less than 99% of commercially reared queens have been produced the usage of the process.
If you need 200, or 2,000, queens, grafting is find out how to pass.
However what if you need only a few?
Assuming excellent eyesight – or have assist attaining it – and stable fingers, grafting is simple. Or, to qualify that, it is more straightforward than another sides of queen rearing, like making ready and managing mini-nucs for mating.
However, when you attend a queen rearing direction you are going to nearly undoubtedly be inspired to graft day-old larvae and use mini-nucs for queen mating.
There are more straightforward techniques to get queens mated and – with the hot identity of the maternal impact – very good justification to no longer graft day-old larvae.
And, there may be the added bonus of doubtless developing larger and higher queens.
So, why the keenness?
If rookies or the grafting-averse (for no matter reason why) don’t want to graft to supply small numbers of queen cells, then it will build up the share of beekeepers who actively rear queens.
‘Actively’, to tell apart the method from passive strategies through which you depend upon the colony to supply queen cells when (and if) they would like e.g. all the way through splits, or when swarming.
I would be shocked if greater than 10-15% of beekeepers actively rear queens every season. That is one reason why such large numbers of queens imported to the United Kingdom annually.
While I am extensively in opposition to imports, I feel the higher importance is that queen rearing improves each the working out and delight in beekeeping (no less than, it does mine). I have prior to now argued that reasonable, readily to be had, imported queens reduces the high quality of our beekeeping … why discover ways to do one thing if you’ll order on-line and fasten it for £25?
Should you rear your personal queens (effectively) you wish to have to discover ways to get ready the colony, pass judgement on when it’s able, perceive the timing of all of the occasions, and arrange the queen mating procedure.
All of this stuff will make stronger your beekeeping, and pay good-looking dividends for different sides of our attention-grabbing interest.
And, all that turns into extra achievable if there is not any wish to graft day-old larvae along with your shaky fingers, dodgy eyesight or insecurity.
So, let’s revisit the demonstration of the maternal impact, particularly having a look on the strategies used.
Then, let’s believe how beekeepers (reasonably than scientists) can recapitulate the ones strategies.
And, excitingly, I will talk about some sensible research performed by way of two readers of The Apiarist.
Synthetic queen cups
A queen cup is an enlarged, reasonably rounded, cellular, in most cases dealing with wholly or in part downwards. By contrast, employee cells are angled quite upwards, hexagonal, very common in look and dimension.
Even though it’s recognized that employees will – or can – transfer eggs to queen cups, it is usually recognized that the queen does lay eggs in them, and that as those eggs hatch, the cellular is elongated right into a sculpted queen cellular, the larvae are nurtured by way of the colony and in the end emerge as new queens.
Within the unique paper at the maternal impact (Wei et al., 2019) the authors used a synthetic queen- or worker-cell device and referenced an ABJ article from 2013 (Pan et al., 2013). This consisted of a sheet of plastic basis, embossed with a regular comb development and containing a normal development of holes during which ‘pegs’ have compatibility from the rear to carry a cellular. My studying of the ABJ article means that the plastic sheet is covered with wax and drawn out as comb prior to the queen is offered.
On the other hand, no longer so rapid … the picture within the Wei et al., (2019) paper does no longer glance similar to that within the ABJ article 🙁.
In that 2019 paper, they just display an image of enormous and small synthetic cells, and a Pan-like peg device for therefore protecting them vertically on a cellular bar body.
Within the Wei et al., paper the queen used to be caged on queen- or worker-cell comb for six hours, all the way through which era she laid eggs. The queen used to be then got rid of.
Obscure or lacking main points
Even though no longer explicitly said, I presume that the basis used to be offered vertically within the hive with the caged queen. That being the case, it implies that the queen will lay eggs in a horizontally-orientated queen-cup {{1}}.
This is necessary.
It used to be those eggs that have been proven to be other in dimension when therefore analysed … and that produced larger queens.
Higher queens.
It isn’t transparent what took place between 6 hours and hatching. The place have been the eggs maintained? Have been they transferred to the cellular elevating colony instantly, or after a prolong?
All of the paper explains is:
Eggs sampled from queen cells and employee cells have been transplanted into usual plastic queen cells. Queen cellular bars have been positioned into a powerful queenless hive with 8 frames for queen rearing.
I am lovely sure that the primary sentence does no longer imply the eggs/larvae have been immediately treated. As a substitute, the peg device I discussed previous used to be used to switch the cells containing eggs (or hatched larvae?) onto the cellular bar body.
Main points we do have
Even though there’s a little vagueness concerning the timing of occasions, what is obviously said is the dimensions of the worker- or queen-cups used within the learn about.
Employee cells have been 4.9 mm in diameter {{2}} .
Queen cups have been 9.7 mm in diameter.
This induced a number of other folks to post feedback on the usage of Nicot cups – although normally with out declaring how. I did not put up those feedback on the time (I will be able to now … ) as I did not need to get right into a dialogue about cellular dimension and what works, or does no longer paintings {{3}}.
And that’s the reason as a result of I would already measured the plastic cellular cups which can be robotically used when grafting larvae.
We’ve the era
It’s the inner diameter of the cellular this is most definitely necessary.
Most probably as we do not know the way the queen measures it, assuming she does measure it {{4}}.
It is recognized {that a} queen can measure drone cells (the place she lays unfertilised eggs) the usage of her forelegs. I be expecting that queens determine queen cups in the similar manner … however that is what’s recognized within the business as an ‘knowledgeable bet’.
Or, extra appropriately, ‘bet’.
I’ve often used JzBz and Nicot plastic cups for queen rearing, so dug them out of the shed. I additionally went out and spent a ridiculous share of my honey earnings on a Jenter package, a German variant that seems to be much less common {{5}} than the Nicot device.
Those 3 kinds of cellular cups all fluctuate quite in diameter and intensity. For comparability, I measured the inner diameter of the rim (some are flush-sided, others curved) the usage of a couple of virtual calipers that can or is probably not correct {{6}}.
As a result of I used to be a pedantic scientist prior to I was a pedantic creator, I measured a couple of of every cellular cup sort and calculated the typical. Who is aware of what the standard keep watch over is on this kind of apparatus?
From left to proper … JzBz, Nicot and Jenter plastic queen cellular cups
JzBz cups are 8.1 mm in diameter
Nicot are 8.5 mm
Jenter are 9.3 mm
Due to this fact, of the 3, the Jenter cups are the closest to these utilized by Wei et al., to show the maternal impact.
Does this topic?
Who is aware of?
Cups or techniques?
JzBz cups are ‘standalone’. You graft larvae into them, provide them vertically in a cellular raiser and voilà, queen cells.
No cup holders, no hair-roller cages, not anything else. Simples.
By contrast, each the Jenter and Nicot techniques are designed to:
- permit the queen to put immediately into the cup (i.e. no grafting)
- offer protection to the cellular prior to emergence the usage of a hair-roller cage
I will talk about the hair-roller cages another time; suffice to mention, the Nicot device is a lot higher {{7}}.
Extra importantly, the primary level is completed by way of caging the queen in a small(ish) plastic cage the place she is obtainable ~100 cellular cups to put in.
On the other hand, in each techniques, the cups are offered at the back of a grille with small holes in it, successfully decreasing the aperture dimension of the cellular cup to 1 nearer to employee dimension (or smaller!). The queen lays thru this grille into the underlying cellular cup.
The round holes within the Nicot grille are 5.4 mm in diameter.
The hexagonal holes within the Jenter device are 4.2 mm ‘flat-to-flat’.
It isn’t been examined, however I would guess the cost of a Jenter package (or my loan … about the similar worth) that the queen lays worker-sized eggs in those worker-sized – or smaller – holes.
So, if you wish to recapitulate the maternal impact you would possibly use Nicot or Jenter cellular cups, however you will have to no longer use their techniques for caging the queen or presenting the cups horizontally {{8}}.
Which creates just a little of an issue …
It provides me nice excitement to introduce …
… Rebecca Noll from upstate New York, and Adrian Tonks from Northland, New Zealand.
Each are common readers and each contacted me about their efforts to get queens to put in plastic cellular cups after the primary of the ‘Larger queens, higher queens’ posts
Rebecca used Nicot cups pressed into the brush, held in position with a 3-d-printed facia plate that equipped the right kind aperture dimension for the underlying cups. She remoted the queen the usage of every other 3-d published cage that allowed employee get right of entry to, however stored the queen trapped.
Adrian took a distinct way. He used JzBz cups fixed in comb, after which caged the queen on all of the body the usage of an creative cage constituted of queen excluder.
I have exchanged a number of emails with each Adrian and Rebecca; they have got patiently replied my questions and, in different instances, repeated experiments.
I’m very thankful to them each 😄.
Rebecca’s use of Nicot cups
Rebecca caged the queen for twenty-four hours over an array of 25 Nicot cups at the back of a facia that had 9 mm holes in it. The queen laid within the cellular cups, however employees therefore got rid of the vast majority of them and tried to scale back the aperture of the outlet within the facia plate with a wax collar.
All photographs by way of Rebecca Noll
The 2 eggs that weren’t got rid of have been transferred to a cellular raiser (as not up to 24 hour larvae). On the other hand, perhaps because of technical issues, best one of the vital ensuing queen cells seems to be doubtlessly promising.
This can be a evidence of thought, and Rebecca is repeating issues ‘as I write’. It used to be fascinating to notice – although, bearing in mind the small numbers, perhaps no longer statistically related – the cellular cups through which eggs have been no longer got rid of have been waxed prior to use.
Rebecca has now designed a fiendishly suave 3-d published field to carry the Nicot cups higher – inflicting much less injury to the underlying comb. The design is being finalised and published, so we would possibly not know the effects for just a little.
If the field works Rebecca shall be satisfied to percentage the design for any person with a 3-d printer.
Adrian’s use of JzBz cellular cups
The way Adrian took used to be elegantly easy. He melted holes in contemporary comb and driven the JzBz cups in, flush with the skin of the brush. The warmed wax helped seal the cellular cups in position. Then – after acclimatising the body within the hive – offered the queen and allowed her to put.
This used to be completed by way of both caging the queen at the body, or hanging the body in a 3-frame nuc (with a body of sealed brood and one in every of shops).
All pictures by way of Adrian Tonks
You’ll acquire cages for queen trapping. They’re incessantly used for Varroa keep watch over, however the ones I have and acquired don’t seem to be reasonably priced (c. £70).
Adrian constructed a cage from queen excluder, the usage of it to surround a body into which the JzBz cups have been driven. He used skinny ply sheet to clean off the opposite face of the brush, and extra house on the aspects, so limiting the queen to the realm containing the JzBz cups.
The queen laid within the JzBz cups and several other have been moved to a cellular bar body (as late-stage eggs or very younger larvae) in a queenless cellular starter, from which 3 queen cells have been produced. Prerequisites have been sub-optimal (it used to be raining and close to the tip of the season, so credit score to Adrian for persevering) and this, or the state of the cell-raiser, will have accounted for the restricted choice of queens produced.
The season in New Zealand is winding down, however Adrian additionally examined JzBz cups pressed into comb vertically oriented. The queen didn’t lay in those.
That also is crucial commentary, and tallies with my interpretation of the sketchy description of the strategies in Wei et al., 2019.
What may well be more straightforward than simply pushing a couple of cellular cups right into a body of comb?
Abstract
Should you suppose that it used to be the queen who positioned the eggs into the Nicot or JzBz cups utilized by Rebecca and Adrian (and it is simple to check if they didn’t … take into consideration it, how would you ascertain this?) then those effects are very encouraging.
It displays {that a} queen will lay in an outsized, horizontal, plastic cellular cup and that the ensuing larva may also be reared as queens.
No grafting 😄.
As well as, it is probably not essential to maintain the queen or lure her in a limited cage {{9}} … both all of the body may also be caged, or she may well be positioned in a dummied-down nuc along with a body of comb containing appropriate cellular cups {{10}}.
The assumption here’s that the queen, laying below those stipulations, will produce better eggs which can therefore turn out to be larger queens.
Numbers are small, and I am positive issues may also be advanced and made extra environment friendly. Particularly, the timing of egg/larval switch to the cellular elevating colony must be made up our minds.
As soon as the season has warmed up right here, when the permafrost thaws, the polar bears depart the ocean ice and the solar by no means units, I will be making an attempt to rear queens the usage of a variant of the approaches defined above.
In truth, that is most definitely nonetheless the most productive a part of a month away … the ‘springroses’ are best now out in power, the cuckoos have simply arrived and that in most cases implies that queen rearing continues to be 2-3 weeks away.
Necessary concerns
I will use Jenter cellular cups.
At the beginning, they’re the nearest in diameter to the cellular cups used within the Wei et al., paper. I have no thought whether or not the fraction of a millimetre distinction from the Nicot/JzBz cups is vital or no longer … however since no one else does both, it kind of feels like the practical factor to do.
Secondly, the two-part development of the Jenter cups method they have got a brief ‘stalk’ that may be simply driven into the brush, and which will have to grasp them securely in position.
Thirdly, I offered a kidney to shop for the Jenter package, so I am positive as heck going to make use of it 😉.
I feel a crucial factor to decide is the timing of the switch from the queen cage to the cellular elevating colony. Each Adrian and Rebecca famous that eggs that first of all gave the impression in cellular cups have been therefore got rid of, probably by way of employees.
Due to this fact, if the queen lays within the cellular cups, there is a chance the ones eggs shall be got rid of prior to they hatch into larvae.
In all probability it could be higher to switch them – or, reasonably, the cellular cups they’re in – as eggs?
It’s recognized that grafting eggs is problematic. It may be finished, however acceptance charges by way of the cellular raiser are incessantly ~50% or much less. My working out (from the very restricted quantity of literature on this esoteric and cobwebby nook of queen rearing) is that eggs are authorised best possible by way of queenless colonies and not using a open brood, however that maximal acceptance calls for 3 day previous eggs (Gąbka et al., 2011).
I will be writing extra about this in the end … quite a bit to do prior to then.
A part of the puzzle solved?
Queen rearing comes to a couple of components, all of which give a contribution to the full good fortune – each in quantity and high quality – of the ensuing queens.
- excellent genetics of the donor colony
- well-nourished larvae
- robust cellular starter colony
- grafting (or switch) of larvae of the fitting age
- considerable feeding of each pollen and nectar
- an acceptable colony to give a boost to the virgin queen
- excellent drones, and a lot of them
- excellent climate for queen mating
The issue for rookies to queen rearing is if simply any such phases (and there are others I’ve no longer indexed) fails, the whole process fails.
That is a large number of wasted effort and really disappointing (I discuss from revel in).
If every of the phases is solely 10-20% sub-optimal – quite questionable genetics, grafting ‘aged’ larvae, deficient ‘take’, underwhelming cellular starter, insufficient feeding, inadequate drones or dodgy climate – then the ensuing queens will nearly undoubtedly be disappointing.
However, no longer the entire phases are similarly problematic; even a moderately green beekeeper (who helps to keep excellent data!) can discriminate excellent from unhealthy colonies, and also you are not looking for a large number of revel in to supply a superbly applicable cellular starter.
However grafting is other … in some way it is the crux of all of the procedure. Should you best succeed in a 10-20% acceptance fee, then unhappiness beckons.
Due to this fact, the rest that makes grafting more straightforward, or that replaces grafting completely, has the possible to extend the good fortune of all of the procedure.
Which would possibly build up the numbers who attempt to rear their very own queens 😄.
And, if the process additionally has the possible to generate larger queens and higher queens, then – as fashionable kids had been heard to mention – What is to not like?
It isn’t a snappy repair, it isn’t a shortcut to good fortune (you continue to want to be aware of the remainder of that checklist of ‘components’ above), and it isn’t assured to paintings … however I am inquisitive about the possible advantages, each for my very own queen rearing {{11}} and for individuals who want to rear their very own queens however are get rid of by way of the obvious wish to graft.
Specifically in the event that they turn into larger, higher queens.
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Thanks
References
Gąbka, J., Ochnio, M., Kaminski, Z., and Madras-Majewska, B. (2011) Impact of age of eggs used for rearing honey bee queens at the choice of won queen cells. Magazine of Apicultural Science 55: 47–53.
Pan, Q-Z, Wu, X-B, Guan, C. and Zeng, Z-J (2013) A brand new manner of queen rearing with out grafting larvae ABJ 153:1279.
Wei, H., He, X.J., Liao, C.H., Wu, X.B., Jiang, W.J., Zhang, B., et al. (2019) A Maternal Impact on Queen Manufacturing in Honeybees. Present Biology 29: 2208-2213.e3 https://www.cellular.com/current-biology/summary/S0960-9822(19)30673-6.
{{1}}: Officially, Wei et al., didn’t end up that the queen laid the eggs within the plastic queen cups equipped. There stays the chance that employees moved them there, although I feel that is not likely.
{{2}}: Hmmm … concerning the dimension of small-cell basis, fascinating. Same old employee basis has a cellular dimension of ~5.3 mm. Important?
{{3}}: I did e-mail those that left feedback to give an explanation for the placement. Should you depart feedback right here I in most cases get to them inside of 48 hours assuming I am not off-grid, beekeeping or frantically looking to beat the closing date for a Friday put up.
{{4}}: Are you able to call to mind in a different way the queen may determine a queen cup?
{{5}}: From discussions with different beekeepers and the provider I used (Thorne’s), and from the choice of knock-off looky-likey Nicot kits to be had which can be equivalent however incompatible. You’ve got been warned.
{{6}}: Let’s agree with them.
{{7}}: In my view … persuade me I am incorrect!
{{8}}: You’ll purchase the cups one at a time. That is stored you a couple of quid for starters!
{{9}}: I feel they get relatively stressed out in those – apologies for the anthropomorphism – and incessantly lay reasonably poorly.
{{10}}: Or a brood field with a QE divider … one thing else on my checklist of items to butcher construct.
{{11}}: And I can graft larvae somewhat effectively.