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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Subject:
From:
Tom Martin <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 29 Jul 2004 22:14:38 -0400
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Hello to all,
 This discussion began with the comments on the failure of a particular
queen cell. It led to the advancement of the theory that a factor in
this problem was an inadequate supply of nurse bees.

 I will attempt to add a little to the subject.

a. Bees do take flight outside the hive earlier then most of the
literature states.
Read about bees emerging and going straight to foraging (still looking
for my reference to this)

b. Scent factors cannot be ruled out when it comes to a bee finding
"home". However this is cannot be stated as the only way they find
"home". Otherwise drifting would be a bigger situation.

  All other discussion aside a shortage of nurse bees is a factor that
could affect queen production. And this shortage could be a result of a
nectar flow in combination with the age of the bees available to forage
for nectar.
 It is a known observation that a nurse bee does not nurse a larva from
egg to capping. This is done by different bees. What would happen if the
next expected nurse bee instead went of to gather nectar?
 A paper titled "Regulation of honey bee division of labor by colony age
demography" Huang and Robison, Published in 1996, addresses some of
these questions.
 On Pages 154-155 changes in resource availability is addressed. This
was first noted in 1937. This is called behavioral change and is not the
same as behavioral development. This causes a young bee to forage during
a honey flow. Particularly a happening when there is a shortage of older
bees.
 Another paper (Fergusson and Winston 1988) noted behavioral change in
colonies deprived of wax. This is attributed to increased forager
activity among older bees transferring to the younger bees.
 This is just a sample of the information available on the subject. It
all points to a possibility that queen cell failure during a honey flow
could be attributed to a shortage of nurse bees.

Thomas J. Martin
Shippensburg, Pa

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