Quality of queen bees in different ways of their production

Abstract

Timely replacement of queens is one of the main zootechnical methods for maintaining the vital activity of bee families, and searching for ways to improve their quality is an urgent problem. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of the method of obtaining queen bees of Apis mellifera sossimai and Apis mellifera carpatica breeds on their reproductive functions and bee family productivity. To conduct research in the conditions of the apiary of honey-pollination area, three groups were established - control and two experimental, with nine bee colonies in each. In the first (control) group, uteruses were artificially removed from the nursery, in the second group - fistula uteri and the third – swarm uteri. The apiary was located at a point of 50×50 meters, bee families were kept in hives. According to the results of the study, it was established that the queen bee Apis mellifera carpatica was heavier than the queen bee Apis mellifera sossimai. The queen bees from the nursery are the smallest, and the swarm queen bees are slightly heavier than in other groups, although the difference was not statistically significant. Fistula queen bees produce the most eggs and provide the best brood quality. Fistula queen bees have better weight uniformity than swarm bees, which affects the productivity of families. Colonies with swarm queen bees are characterised by different levels of development, which complicates the maintenance of these families. The quality of queens is affected by the breeding method and the location of the queen cell in the honeycomb. The more queens the colony grows, the worse their quality. As it is complicated to establish optimal conditions in the nursery and the number of queen cells is large, this is the reason for the worst quality of queens. The results obtained are of practical importance for choosing a method of rearing queen bees of high quality to establish well-developed bee colonies

Keywords

• hive
• bee family
• fistula queen
• swarm queen
• nursery
• bee brood