On 18 Sep 97 at 19:57, Bill Bartlett wrote:
 
> shrunk drastically.  The bees that we order from package bee people
> carry the genes from their area.  When we have these bees and no
> wild bees, the matings that take place may be from drones from the
> queen's own colony. These produce diploids, which the worker bees
> can reconize and proceed to eat.  It was speculated that this may be
> a reason that the queens seem to fail or at least not to lay enough
> eggs to get the hive going strong.
 
When we talk of the queens "Pattern" this is what we are refering to.
How many holes that develop within the egg laying pattern depends on
how close to brother-sister mating takes place.
        Dr. Nasr did work on this as previously reported. As he found, the
closer the mating to brother-sister then the more holes developed in
the pattern, to the point the hive became unviable.
        I would suggest that a checking point for new queens would be the
amount of holes developed in the pattern. Too many, and that
queen needs replacing and using a different breeder next time. A
word of caution. At certain times of the year ie. heavy flow, it is
possible that the central area will get clogged with incoming nectar,
until the bees get organised and store it away. The way we check, is
to note which frame she is laying on, then go back after sealing to
check for holes.
        Good breeders maintain diversity in their drone stock. We have
achieved 10 line diversity and struggle hard to maintain them to
ensure that our queens achieve good mating diversity.
 
 
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The Bee Works, 9 Progress Dr, Unit 2,
Orillia, Ontario, L3V 6H1
Phone/fax  705-326-7171
David Eyre, Owner.
http://www.muskoka.net/~beeworks
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