All About The Queen

摘要

Last month we were discussing optimal development for queens, and how a queen who was well fed from the moment her egg hatched grows big and fat, lives longer, and lays more eggs over her lifetime. So what about the tiny queens beekeepers sometimes see, whether homegrown or commercial purchased? Ed Colby and I recently spotted a new queen in one of my mating nucs who was so small she was almost indistinguishable from the workers. She was one I raised, so I am still watching her. She has grown to almost normal size, and is laying well for a queen in a mini-mating nuc. It is my theory that I had too many queen cells in my cell-building colony, so she didn't get the amazing abundance of royal jelly that she should have had, rather, she had to share with all of her sisters. This may be a by-product of raising queens during a dearth in July. Feeding was just not enough.