Bee Tidings is a cooperative publication of the University of Nebraska Cooperative Extension and the Nebraska Honey Producer's Association. The newsletter announces events of interest to beekeepers, provides timely advice, and summarizes current research that beekeepers can use. A newsletter subscription includes membership in the Nebraska Honey Producer's Association(NHPA).
The importance of having a young vigorous queen in all colonies is evident in apiaries that experience a good honey flow. Well-managed apiaries with young queens will have good production in almost all colonies. Apiaries which are not requeened annually will frequently have 30-40% nonproductive colonies due to swarming, supersedure, and poor colony build-up. Midwestern beekeepers who overwinter colonies traditionally buy queens from southern states each spring. In the Midwest, it is difficult to raise and properly mate queens in the spring. However, Midwestern conditions are excellent for summer queen production and mating. An increasing number of beekeepers are raising queens in the Midwest. In a recent series of articles in the American Bee Journal, Kirk Webster described a system for queen rearing and stock selection in northern states (February-May, 1997). He makes a very convincing argument for northern queen rearing and provides plans for specialized equipment to overwinter nuclei above strong colonies.
 Having young queens in all colonies is the most important step in maintaining productive colonies. |
Beekeepers who raise queens need to carefully consider what makes a good queen. Genetic background is certainly important, but queens with excellent pedigrees reared under poor conditions will always be inferior to queens with average pedigrees reared under optimum conditions. The amount and quality of food fed to queen larvae determines their egg laying capacity. Larvae fed generously on a diet of royal jelly throughout their development will have more ovarioles or egg producing tubes than larvae fed worker jelly for part of their lives. To assure proper nutrition, larvae selected for queen rearing should be 12-24 hours old. Bees can rear queens from larvae which are 1-4 days old; however, older larvae result in queens with decreased body weight, reduced number of ovarioles, and smaller spermathecae. These queens will lay eggs and raise brood, but they are not capable of producing enough eggs to produce the colony strength needed to collect a large surplus of honey. Their colonies will survive, but they will not be productive until the poorly reared queens are superseded.
Queens reared by colonies preparing to swarm or supersede their queen are properly nourished and result in good queens. However, queens reared under emergency conditions are almost always inferior. Emergency cells are produced when beekeepers divide colonies and allow the bees to raise their own queen. Under emergency conditions, bees select several larvae that are 1-4 days old and begin feeding them royal jelly. The oldest larvae will be the first to emerge, and she will destroy the other cells. The resulting queen will have fewer ovarioles than a queen reared under optimum conditions. The colony will survive, but it will not be very productive until she is replaced.
 Beekeepers should not begin queen rearing until they have sealed drone brood in their colonies. |
In addition to proper nutrition, a queen must mate with at least a dozen drones. Beekeepers should not begin queen rearing until they have sealed drone brood in their colonies. Drones are sexually mature 12 days after they emerge. By delaying queen rearing until colonies have sealed drone brood, beekeepers can be confident that sexually mature drones will be available when virgin queens take mating flights. Good virgin queens can be reared before drones are available, but they will invariably be inferior if drones are not abundant. Good weather for mating flights is also critical to queen rearing success. While it is impossible to predict the weather, Midwestern beekeepers should delay queen rearing until mid-May to optimize their chances for good mating weather. Queens will store 5-7 million spermatoza in their spermatheca. Queens with less than 3 million spermatoza will not survive their first season.
 Inbreeding depression is characterized by a spotty brood pattern. |
A genetic trait is a characteristic that can be transferred from one generation to the next. Traits are determined by one or more genes. Genes are located on chromosomes. In humans, sex is determined by an entire chromosome. Human embryos that have two "X" chromosomes (XX) become females. Those which have one "X" and one "Y" chromosome (XY) become males. Sex determination in bees was first explained by John Dzierzon in 1845. He observed that virgin queens which were not permitted to go on mating flights produced only drone brood. From his observations, he correctly proposed that drones develop from unfertilized eggs while queens and workers develop from fertilized eggs. In the 1960s, J. Woyke established that sex was determined by a single gene and that there were multiple forms (alleles) of the sex-determining gene. When fertilized eggs are laid, normal females are produced if different alleles are contributed by the queen and drone (these offspring are called heterozygotes). When unfertilized eggs are laid (hemizygotes) normal males are produced. When queens mate with closely related drones, some of the fertilized eggs will receive the same allele from both parents (homozygotes). This union results in some of the fertilized eggs having two copies of the same gene. If hand fed by a scientist, they can be reared to adult drones. These larvae are cannibalized by the workers as soon as they hatch. The beekeeper observes a spotty brood pattern, and the colony does not build up properly.
There are approximately 18 forms of the sex-determining genes in honey bees. Queens that mate with closely related drones produce spotty brood patterns due to the frequency of embryos that receive the same sex-determining allele from both their mother and father. Since queens mate with a dozen or more drones, the percentage of non-viable progeny is determined by the degree of inbreeding that occurs.
A large population of wild honey bees existed in the United States prior to the introduction of the varroa mite. This wild population served as a buffer to inbreeding by providing a genetically diverse component to the drone population. With the demise of the wild population of honey bees, beekeepers need to carefully guard against inbreeding if they rear their own queens. The most important precaution is to use multiple queen mothers and to select multiple lines. Infusing new lines into the population periodically will also reduce inbreeding. The loss of the wild honey bee population is a tragedy. A large part of the genetic variability available to beekeepers has been lost. Most of the honey bees in the United States are now the descendants of less than 500 breeder queens.
The decrease in wild bees has both good and bad implications for bee breeding. Beekeepers should be able to make more progress in selecting open-mated stock. Without the competition from wild drones, it should be easier to maintain desirable traits. On the bad side, genetic variability has been lost, and beekeepers will need to increase their efforts to guard against inbreeding.
 Honey Bee on Aster (Photo by Gene Killion) |
The loss of most wild honey bee colonies has heightened growers' and homeowners' awareness of the vital role pollinating insects play in fruit and vegetable production. The following are two examples of pollination-related inquiries and my responses. I hope my responses will help you answer similar inquiries. As a beekeeper, most people expect you to be knowledgeable about pollination.
Question: Only a few strawberry growers in the Midwest rent bees to assist with strawberry pollination. The wisdom has been that there are enough local, native pollinators that extra bees were not justified. However, we have seen a decline in feral honey bees due to bee mites. Is it economically beneficial for strawberry growers in the Midwest to rent honey bees to increase crop pollination?
Answer: Most modern cultivars of strawberries are self-fertile. The strawberry is an aggregate fruit containing numerous pistils, each with one carpel from which the aggregate fruit is formed. Achenes containing fertilized ovules release a hormone that stimulates growth of the receptacle. When an achene does not contain a fertilized seed, it remains small and the fruit is noticeably deformed when a group of such achenes occur together. Some auto-pollination occurs by pollen falling on the stigmas; however stigmas are receptive long before anthers dehisce so cross-pollination by insects is favored. In summary, bees are not absolutely necessary - but in most instances, you will obtain a higher percentage of well formed fruits when they are present in adequate numbers.
Question: I have a ten-year-old sweet cheery tree that blooms every year, but it never sets cherries. I see bees visiting the blossoms -why am I not getting any cherries?
Answer: Sweet cherries are not self-fertile and must be cross-pollinated. You must have two or more varieties of sweet cherries with compatible blooming dates to set a crop. Alternately, you can cut branches of a compatible variety and place them in vases of water positioned among the branches of your tree.
 Honey bees are important pollinators of many plants that grow in cities as well as in the country. |
Honey bees are important pollinators of many plants that grow in cities as well as in the country. Wild honey bee populations have declined due to parasitic bee mites, and city dwellers will benefit from beekeepers maintaining bees in the city to pollinate fruit, vegetable and seed crops, plants important to wildlife, and plants that beautify our landscapes.
When bees are kept in the city, beekeepers should be careful to:
Some urban settings are not suitable for beekeeping such as crowded subdivisions with small yards full of small children and pets. The city of Lincoln has a bee ordinance that is reasonable and protects the rights of both beekeepers and their neighbors. The provisions of the ordinance are as follows:
Location of hives: No person shall maintain any hive or box where bees are kept within 50 feet of any dwelling (except the dwelling of the owner of such bees), or within 50 feet of any lot line, sidewalk, alley, or other public way. Notwithstanding, bees may be kept within 15 feet of a lot line, sidewalk, alley, or other public way when a barrier at least 6 feet high is placed between the hives and the lot line or public way which adequately impairs bee flight.
Minimum area required: Any lot can have one hive, but homeowners are limited to one hive for every 1,500 square feet.
Standards for management: Any person keeping bees shall: minimize swarming, provide an adequate source of water, provide an adequate number of boxes, and maintain and manage hives so as not to create a nuisance.
The ordinance is on the books, but it is only enforced if a complaint is filed. There are instances where bees sit on a lot line with no fence and both neighbors are content. Again, the city feels no need to enforce the ordinance when there is not a problem.
The Nebraska Honey Producer's Association and the Nebraska Beekeeper's Association will hold a joint meeting on Friday, November 21, at the University of Nebraska's Agricultural Research and Development Center located near Mead. The meeting will begin at 9 a.m. Invited speakers are Don Dixon, Manitoba Provincial Apiarist, and Mary Beth Preston, University of Nebraska Food Processing Center. At 5 p.m. the meeting will move to the University of Nebraska's Apiculture Lab for a tour of the facility and cookout. Participants will be invited to look at experimental colonies that are part of ongoing studies for the control of tracheal and varroa mites. Music will be in the air when the Southeast High School Ladies Chorus arrives to provide a little night music.
This is a change in format from the usual two-day meeting. Participants must preregister since all meals will be catered. Please complete and return the enclosed form to register. Restaurants are not available and food will not be available for those who do not preregister. Registrations must be received by Reed Koeppe, Nebraska Honey Producer's Association Secretary, by November 15.
Lodging is available in Lincoln and Wahoo. Motels in the area include:
Name: ________________________________________________
Address: ______________________________________________
City/State/Zip: __________________________________________
Registration: $10 per person or $15 per family
Names for name tags: _________________________
Meals and Breaks: $14 per person. ____ persons @ $14 each
Nebraska Honey Producer's Association dues:
| 1-10 colonies: | $10 | |
| 11-499 colonies: | $15 | |
| 500 or more colonies: | $25 |
Total Enclosed _____________________________
Bee Tidings is published jointly by University of Nebraska Cooperative Extension and the NebraskaHoney Producer's Association six times a year. A subscription includes membership to the association. Subscriptions are for one year and begin with the November issue.
To subscribe to Bee Tidings, send a $10 check made out to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln along with your name, address, and phone number to:
Your comments and suggestions about the newsletter are always welcome.
