Techniques of rearing queen bee

摘要

The performance of the honey bee colonies depends on the inherited qualities of its queen. The queen transmits to the offspring her characteristics pertaining to longevity, industriousness, disease resistance, temperament, swarming, absconding and other behavioral attributes. Thus, for successful and profitable beekeeping young freshly mated and quality queen bees with known pedigree are required because: a) A young vigorous queen generally is more prolific and lays more number of eggs and for longerduration as compared to the old queen. b) Moreover, colonies headed by young queens swarm less in comparison with those having old queens. In order to harvest large benefits, the beekeepers, therefore, must maintain young and prolific queens in their colonies. c) Besides, queens also need to be replaced in case of sudden loss during manipulation, transportation and due to the attack of enemies. d) Reserve stocks of queens need to be maintained not only for routine replacements but also for rapid and commercial multiplication of honey bee colonies. e) Young and quality queen bees produced en masse are also .required, for breeding programmes and for sale to the other beekeepers/ bee breeders. f) In India, the concept of bee breeders is by and large lacking. To achieve this objective, the quality queens need to be produced in large number.