beeno
Queen Bee
- Joined
- Apr 25, 2011
- Messages
- 5,181
- Reaction score
- 234
- Location
- South East
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- 5
Hi Folks,
Thought I make a new thread about this controversial, but important part of our understand of beekeeping. The statement below is generally accepted in the literature and makes perfect sense to me, but not accepted by a lot of beekeepers. I seem to recall Seeley had checked it out, but don't have time to search just now.
The Biology of the Honey Bee - Mark Winston (1987) p 186
“Younger workers have a higher probability of issuing with swarms than older workers, and up to 70% of workers less than 10 days old leave with swarms of temperate-evolved bee races… The advantage of a higher proportion of young workers issuing with swarms is that it provides more bees with greater potential longevity for the swarm, a factor of critical importance since new workers will not begin emerging until at least 21 days after the swarm has colonised a new nest site. In contrast, the original colony contains emerging brood which provides an influx of young workers for the old nest.”
Thought I make a new thread about this controversial, but important part of our understand of beekeeping. The statement below is generally accepted in the literature and makes perfect sense to me, but not accepted by a lot of beekeepers. I seem to recall Seeley had checked it out, but don't have time to search just now.
The Biology of the Honey Bee - Mark Winston (1987) p 186
“Younger workers have a higher probability of issuing with swarms than older workers, and up to 70% of workers less than 10 days old leave with swarms of temperate-evolved bee races… The advantage of a higher proportion of young workers issuing with swarms is that it provides more bees with greater potential longevity for the swarm, a factor of critical importance since new workers will not begin emerging until at least 21 days after the swarm has colonised a new nest site. In contrast, the original colony contains emerging brood which provides an influx of young workers for the old nest.”