Hi Peter

 > Do queens lay evenly through the day and night, or do they lay
 > more eggs during the day or the night?

Far too much emphasis has in the past been placed on sheer numbers laid, 
and averages over relatively long periods, rather than the rates at 
which they may be laid. This is further complicated by the length of 
time used, so if we divide up our day into three hour chunks we will 
obtain less information than if we use one hour periods and a whole day 
can hide all sorts of variations.

A quote from David Headrick...

"Apis mellifera L., can produce about 220,000 eggs during a 12 month 
period. This translates into 602 eggs per day, 25 eggs per hour or an 
egg laid every 144 seconds. These figures are misleading as they are 
averages that do not take into consideration seasonal variation and the 
rise and decline of population. In a rising population leading up to 
midsummer the rate may be 3000 eggs per day and I have heard claims for 
up to 5000 per day."

My conjecture.

I reckon the rate will depend on several factors like amounts of pollen 
available, amount of nectar available, how many empty cells available, 
how many 'jobs' are not being fulfilled in the nest, things like that, 
daylight hours available would correlate fairly well with observed 
annual population dynamics, but day length and temperature also drive 
nectar and pollen availability so which is the cause of the effect?


Regards & Best 73s, Dave Cushman, G8MZY
http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman or http://www.dave-cushman.net
Short FallBack M/c, Build 6.02/3.1 (stable)

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