Small-Cell Combs Offer as Favorable Conditions of Rearing Worker Bees as Standard-Cell Combs in the Temperate Climate in Spring

Abstract

During the spring development of bee colonies, small-cell combs were found to create equally favorable conditions for worker bee rearing as standard-cell combs, since the workers reared in the small-cell combs did not differ significantly in the majority of morphometric traits, including the length of wings and the sum of the widths of the third and fourth tergites, from those reared in standard-cell combs. Moreover, they had a significantly longer and wider thorax. It can be assumed that the workers reared in small-cell combs collect nectar as effectively as those reared in standard-cell combs, as both groups did not differ in the proboscis length. It was confirmed that the body size of workers is relatively constant and is less influenced by the width of comb cells than was assumed previously, as the values of their morphometric parameters did not increase proportionally with the increasing cell width. The colony kept on small-cell combs provided worse rearing conditions for workers reared in standard-cell combs than the colony kept on standard-cell combs, which may have been related to the less abundant feeding of larvae by workers reared in small-cell combs.

Keywords

• <i>Apis mellifera</i>
• morphometric traits
• small-cell comb
• worker bees