I read yesterday of some studies done on determining how the queen
fertilizes worker eggs but doesn't fertilize drones.  Apparently, the
initial hypothesis concerned cell size and the queen's laying posture.  Some
thought that the smaller cell size of a worker cell squeezed the queen's
abdomen and caused the egg to be fertilized.  I guess the queen's anatomy is
not consistent with this (Koeniger, Bee World 51:166-9).
 
In another study (Koeniger, ibid. and Summary of the 22nd International
Beekeeping Conference, p. 138) partially or completely amputating the
queen's forelegs produced an all female laying queen.  Apparently this
robbed the queen of her ability to sense the cell size during her
pre-inspection.
 
Question 1 - Why not routinely clip the queen's forelegs to avoid drone
production?
 
 
Later in the book I'm reading, it talks about bee nourishment and mentions
several vital sterols, lipids and vitamins (mainly B-vitamins, how
appropriate) to bee development.
 
Question 2 - Why not supplement a new colony with something besides pollen
substitute and sugar water, Fumadil and Terramycin?
 
 
The book I'm reading is The Biology of the Honeybee by Mark L. Winston.  I'm
a newbee so as far as I know, this stuff is the Gospel according to Mark.
 It is great reading and has all the references (although I don't know
exactly where I'll find them, some are pretty obscure and my technical
German is a little rusty for some of the sources ... perhaps I'll try the
University of Michigan library since it is closeby).  The book seems to be
far easier reading than ABCXYZ and more current, too.
 
 
Look forward to your replies.
 
John Moote
 
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