An observation study on the effects of queen age on some characteristics of honey bee colonies

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the effects of the queen&rsquo;s age on performance of the honeybee (A. mellifera anatoliaca) colonies at nomad beekeeping conditions. Performances of the colonies, which had 0, 1, 2 and 3 year-old queens, were compared. The number of combs, brood areas, wintering ability survival rate and honey yield were determined as performance criteria. The average number of combs with bees throughout the experiment in Group I, Group II, Group III and Group IV was 10.92&plusmn;0.78, 14.68&plusmn;0.55, 10.10&plusmn;0.60, 7.88&plusmn;0.45 number combs/colony; the average of brood areas was 3078&plusmn;372.5 cm2, 3668&plusmn;460.3 cm2, 2215&plusmn;294.0 cm2, 1665.38&plusmn;241.8 cm2; the average of wintering ability was 84.3&plusmn;2.9%, 88.0&plusmn;3.7%, 46.6&plusmn;19.0%, 26.8&plusmn;16.5%; the survival rate was 100%, 100%, 60%, 40%; and the average of honey yields was 31.4&plusmn;1.89 kg, 41.5&plusmn;1.05 kg, 20.4&plusmn;2.62 kg and 12.0&plusmn;1.41 kg per colony, respectively. A significant and negative correlation between queen age and brood production (r=-80.2), colony strength (r=-62.5), wintering ability (r=-66) and honey yield (r=-75.6) were calculated (P<0.01). The colonies headed by young queens had more brood areas, longer worker colony population, better wintering ability and greater honey yield in comparison to colonies headed by old queens

Population dynamics of European honey bee genotypes under different environmental conditions

“…As mentioned above, the colonies were found to be weaker during the second year of the experiment, in terms of both adult bee population and number of brood cells, probably as a result of increased varroa infestation during the second year, and maybe the increased age of the queens (Woyke, 1984;Genç, 1992;Kostarelou-Damianidou et al, 1995;Akyol et al, 2008). Indeed we found significant negative correlations between mite infestation levels and the number of adult bees in the following months, and after the winter.…”

Viral infections in queen bees (Apis mellifera carnica) from rearing apiaries

“…Queen age has influence on high colony productivity (Tarpy et al 2000), so beekeepers need to replace them, especially after the second year in nomadic beekeeping conditions (Akyol et al 2007). Queen rearing is therefore a very important beekeeping activity in order to ensure the availability of quality queens.…”

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

“…According to Woyke (1984), honeybee colonies with 1-year-old queens produced 27% more honey than those with 2-year-old queens. Akyol et al (2008) report that approximately 71% and 41% less honey was harvested from colonies with 3-year-old queens than from colonies with 1-and 2-year-old queens, respectively. Honeybee colonies with young queens are also less likely to develop a swarming impulse (Siuda and Wilde, 2002;Wilde, 2006).…”