Keith said:
"....Royal Jelly is produced by the 'Worker Bee' from
its pharyngeal glands to feed the larva. When fed
lavishly to a larva, it hatches as a Queen Bee."

Although many books say the above it is not *exactly *correct but is in
part.

J.w said:
I guess the point I am attempting to make is that if
both worker and queen larvae are submerged in a "pool
of royal jelly" for 2 to 3 days.  In this condition,
they both have an 'all you can eat' diet available of
royal jelly, as they are both submerged in the food.

Many books say the above also which over simplifies the feeding of the queen
larva.

J. w. asks:
Is this an assumption the bee experts and queen
breeders on this list are making?,,, or is there
'actual proof existing that a queen larvae eats more
royal jelly than a worker during the first 2 or 3 days
of larval development'?  Thanks!

Many times I have pointed out improvements needed in bee books.

If one reads carefully in two different places in the 92 edition of "The
Hive & the Honey Bee" (page 210 & page 380) reference is made to the
composition of royal jelly as fed to queen larva. No place I could find gave
the ratio which would be helpful to understanding as Joe W. raises a valid
question.

However no place in the book I could find tells the exact amounts from each
gland involved. I urge my friend Joe Graham to consider a change in upcoming
editions or *correct me if I am wrong.* (rarely wrong but has happened on
rare occasions when I did not understand the question).

Royal jelly composition comes from two glands of the worker bee. The
hypopharyngeal gland and the mandibular gland.

The queen gets approx. 60-80% mandibular and the worker royal jelly is
approx. 20-40% hypopharyngeal gland.

In other words it is *not* the copius amounts as suggested by most bee books
(if not all) which makes the queen (although the queen is fed copius
amounts)BUT the different composition from different glands.

Sincerely,
Bob Harrison
Odessa, Missouri

"Beekeeping is simple and complicated at the same time"

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