On Mon, 26 Sep 1994, Jean-Pierre Chapleau wrote:
 
<snip>
> problem.  Queen from larvae exceding 36 hours old have fewer ovarioles and a
> lower laying capability.
 
Do you think there is any real advantage in selecting larvae at 12 hours
compared to 36?  If not, then one could adjust emergence dates a bit to
avoid weekend emergence.  Being somewhat unknowledgeable about such
things, we always use the youngest available.  Is that important?
 
Perhaps we could discuss incubation temperatures at some later time.  My
measurements don't agree with the published numbers.  The books refer to
92F.  I measure 95.5F  +/- 0.5F.  I've heard rumors that some breeders
adjust hatching time by controlling temperature.  True?  False?
 
<snip>
> Close and continuous observation
> of individuals colonies (taking into account the parental relationships) shows
> important differences.  These differences show up more when observations are
> concentrated on specific traits, when quantified objective evaluations are mad
e
> and when the figures are analysed.
<snip>
> producer with no selection program and/or no progeny testing.  That last point
> is very important.  Raising queens  from a good mother from a good lineage doe
s
> not quarantee that the daughters will be good.  An experienced and concienciou
s
> breeder will test the progeny of his prospective breeders before he puts them
> into commercial production.  Not all the queens transmit the desirable traits
to
> their progeny with a high enough degree of reliability.
<snip>
> and colonies headed by queens from selected and tested breeders, the differenc
es
> will clearly show up...  provided the selection has been made essentially on t
he
> honey harvesting capability and not only on the laying capacity.
 
This sounds like real work!  Not only does one have to have enough hives
to compare, but he has to manage them to make honey, while carefully
measuring results.
 
We have tried to do a bit of this, but a lot of the time I am not sure if
it is the queen or the position in the yard, etc.  And if it is the queen,
is it her age, her upbringing, the particular batch of sperm she is
processing at the moment, or is it her own genetics?  I must confess to
not having the patience to keep the kind of records necessary to come to
valid conclusions.
 
But having said this, we have been marking the exceptional honey makers
for the past two years and then examining them in the spring for temper,
chalkbrood, size, general appearance, etc.  If they are exceptional, they
have gone to the home yard where we have been breeding from a selection of
the best performers and using the rest for bees and brood.  Many of our
splits are also made there and mate with their drones.  We had a great
crop this year.  Our hives are also getting yellower!  We had black and
grey bees predominating previously.  Perhaps selecting for strong
(splittable) hives in April is the cause.
 
We simply haven't had the dedication to evaluate the progeny beyond
observing that they are average or better in most regards.  We simply are
trying to mimic nature by removing - as much as easily manageble - the
less successful hives from the active breeding pool and encouraging
breeding by fairly large number of the most successful.
 
I'd be interested in understanding (visualising) how you manage to do the
measurements.  Do you do it once a year - or more often?  Do you have a
hive numbering system?  And how many hives are you evaluating for
breeding?
 
Are there some simple tricks and short cuts, or is it just a matter of doing
the work?
 
I realise that maybe I'm searching for an easy way out, but we spent big $
to buy 400 queens this spring - for the first time in 5 years - and after
all the work, we lost over a third - mostly after they had begun to lay.
So I really need one.  Introducing mated queens and finding queens in
splits is a whole lot more work than just raising cells and sticking them
into everything that might need one.
 
Could my feelings on this latter matter have anything to do with the fact
that my wife does the grafting; I do the splitting and queen checks? ;-)
 
 
W. Allen Dick, Beekeeper
Rural Route One, Swalwell,  Alberta  Canada T0M 1Y0
Phone/Fax: 403 546 2588      Email: [log in to unmask]