On Thu, 24 Jan 2002 11:27:07 -0500, Zachary Huang <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Just wonder if any of your here have seen workers being reared in drone
>cells.

A professor at the University of Guelph once told me about an experiment he
performed with drone comb. He shook a package of bees into a hive with
nothing but drone comb to see how the queen would react. After laying a lot
of unfertilized eggs, the queen started laying fertilized eggs in drone
cells. However he said only half of these workers (that developed in drone
cells) hatched out. The unhatched workers turned out to be facing the
comb's midrib so could not chew their way out. After a little more
investigation it was determined that the reason for this was that when
pupating, the workers use the rough capping as compared to the smooth cell
bottom to orient their heads towards the capping. I assume in a drone cell,
workers feel the smooth cell bottom on one side and some empty air on the
other, hence they guessed wrong about which end was the smoothest 50% of
the time.

I mentioned all this a few years ago, Zachary, which reminds me of a joke.
Where did Noah keep his bees? In his archives.  (Ark,Ark,Ark)

On CBC's radio program Quirks and Quarks last weekend, I heard a scientist
saying that animals like snakes, which have periods of lethargy, prevent
atrophy of muscles by sending regular nerve impulses to their muscles. Does
anybody know if there is research showing that bees do the same thing over
winter? How about beekeepers on computers?

Ted