> On 5 Jul 99, at 7:33, Computer Software Solutions L wrote:
>
> > Is David saying that pressure of circumstances can force or otherwise
> > persuade the bees to alter the times that the normal metamorphoses take
> > place?. I have not come across this before.
And David Eyre responded:
> Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying.

Well Dave, if that's what you're saying you're saying it wrong.  Pressures
of unexpected queenless do not change metamorphoses time, what the unexpected
queenlessness does is prompt the bees to change the path of an already
developing larva.  ALL fertilized larvae have the potential to become queens
for up to three days from the point that they cease to be eggs, based on
diet and how they are reared by the nurse bees.  Larvae destined from the
very beginning to become queens are fed a higher amount of the glandular
secretion from nurses' mandibular glands whereas larvae destined to become
workers from the very beginning are fed a higher amount of the glandular
secretion from nurses' hypopharengeal glands.  These glandular secretions
are commonly called royal jelly.

Now, if a colony suddenly becomes queenless the bees will sometimes "alter
the destiny" of a developing larva by changing the ratio of mandibular to
hypopharengeal secretions in the royal jelly and enlarging the cell of
the developing larva.  The bees may "alter the destiny" of a larva that can be
up to 3 days old (again, age of larva as determined from the point that
the egg ceases to be an egg and becomes a larva).  If the "altered"
larva is 3 days old, the resulting queen will be inferior to a larva
that was "altered" at one day old.  Grafting larvae to produce queens is
"altering the destiny" of the grafted larvae, only it's the beekeeper
altering the destiny rather than the bees.  Ideally, grafts are made from
larvae that are less than 24 hours old.  If the "altered" larva is 3 days old,
the "altered" queen cell will be capped at 6-7 days rather than 9.  But in NO
WAY is metamorphosis time altered, that simply doesn't happen.
"It doesn't take a superior amount of knowledge" to add the days up, it only
takes a civil explanation of what is going on within a hive in an emergency
situation.

Now, does this mean that all walk away splits will result in inferior
queens?  I can't say.  Dave claims to have kept the records and asserts
that emergency queens will be inferior and will most likely be quickly
superseded.  The supersedure queen will have been raised as a queen from
the very beginning with all the proper nourishment worthy of a queen to be, so
the supersedure queen should be fine.  What you lose in this scenario is
time and there is also a period when the inferior queen could be
polluting the gene pool with inferior drons (unsubstantiated speculation
on my part).  So there may be a possibility that walk away splits result in
inferior colonies.

Others have reported good results, even superior results with walk away
splits.  I'm trying a few myself this year and I'll judge my results in time.
Right now I have no opinion.

But I've said it before and I'll say it again, the more you know about the
science and art of producing good, productive queens with all the traits
you desire, the more you will appreciate the job done by good queen breeders.
One must either put in a good deal of time (years) and effort into their own
breeding program or find and cultivate a good working relationship with queen
breeders they feel are producing a good, consistent product.  Good queens just
don't happen.

Aaron Morris - I think, therefore I bee!