Beata Madras-Majewska

Onset of oviposition by honey bee queens, mated either naturally or by various instrumental insemination methods, fits a lognormal distribution

Summary It is commonly believed that instrumentally inseminated honey bee queens initiate oviposition much later than naturally mated queens. A large scale investigation was therefore conducted on 1675 queens. Naturally mated queens initiated oviposition 2 to 23 (mean 6.8) days after the start of mating flights and the mode occurred 2.8 days earlier. Queens inseminated instrumentally with 8mm3 of semen initiated oviposition 3 to 21 (mean 9.1) days after insemination and the mode occurred 3.1 days earlier. Thus, the mean and the mode of the onset of oviposition occurred only 2.3 or 2 days later in instrumentally inseminated queens than in naturally mated queens. Different treatments of instrumentally inseminated queens accelerated or delayed the onset of oviposition by only one day in relation to instrumentally inseminated queens not additionally treated. The distribution of the onset of oviposition was skewed positively in both naturally mated queens and instrumentally inseminated queens and fitted a lognormal distribution. We therefore recommend presentation of the mode value in all future papers concerning the onset of oviposition by both naturally mated queens and instrumentally inseminated queens.

Wintering Reserve Queens in Mini-Plus and 3-Comb Nuclei

Abstract The aim of this study was to develop an effective method of overwintering reserve honey bee queens in two-storey mini-plus mating nuclei and in 3-comb nuclei (frames 36 x 26 cm, Wielkopolski hive). The assay was performed during three wintering seasons (2005 - 2008) parallel at two centers in Poland: the Division of Apiculture at the University of Life Sciences (SGGW) in Warsaw, and the Apiculture Division at the University of Warmia and Mazury (UWM) in Olsztyn. The results showed that 59% of queens overwintered in mini-plus nuclei and 77% in 3-comb nuclei. Among queens in mini-plus nuclei 63% overwintered in bee yard and only 55% in cellar. Within queens in 3-comb nuclei, 62% overwintered in Olsztyn and 91% in Warsaw. The highest survival rate of 93% was observed in Warsaw during the first season. Due to low survival rate, it is not recommended to overwinter the queens in miniplus nuclei.