Effect of honey flow on acceptance of bee eggs at different age in rearing colonies

摘要

Quality of bee queens depends primarily on the age of the brood selected to initiate their rearing. The best queens are reared from eggs, although the acceptance of eggs in rearing colonies is reduced. The aim of the experiment was to investigate whether the honey flow affects the acceptance of eggs at different ages. Eggs aged 0-12, 24-36 and 48-60 hours were introduced into queen rearing colonies during the nectar flow and during the period without flow. The bees accepted 39.2% of the eggs introduced for queen rearing. No significant differences were noted between the total number of eggs accepted during the nectar flow (41.7%) and in the period without flow (36.8%). Significant differences were detected between the acceptance of eggs of different ages. Bees accepted significantly fewer of the youngest eggs (20.8%), compared with the oldest eggs (59.4%).