Brood capping

[Eyeman]

Trying to get my head around the reason the bees need to cap brood?
With bald brood where the bees have uncapped the brood the pupae go on to develop normally.
Larvae can be succesfully reared into adult bees in a petri dish. Lots of research looking at modifying the conditions larvae are reared under.
Any info on what the capping is for? Improving micorclimate and reducing infection?

 

[Beefriendly]

Its probably protection and micro-climate, but interesting question.
If you turn it round ( and ignore lab conditions) then the question might be what are the survival rates of capped vs uncapped brood?
I don't know the answer, but would expect it to be heavily biased towards capped.

 

[Millet]

My bet is to keep the moisture levels correct in the developing cell, if it is sealed the moisture will stay the same without human intervention..

 

[masterBK]

With genetic bald brood they don't cap the cells in the first place. With bald brood associated with wax moth they do remove the capping and the moth silk tunnel.

 

[Wingy]

In order to give the varoa somewhere safe to develop & multiply so the beekeeper has something to do in their spare time lol

 

[Eyeman]

With genetic bald brood they don't cap the cells in the first place. With bald brood associated with wax moth they do remove the capping and the moth silk tunnel.

So with genetic bald brood the pupae have never been capped yet develop into adult bees. Intersting to see if these bees have some inherent weekness such as short life span.