IntroductionAdequate rearing and maintenance of healthydrones are esse - PDF document

IntroductionAdequate rearing and maintenance of healthydrones are essential for successful queen beematings. Information on drone bees and theirmanagement during an extended queen beemating season has been collated to assist in thedevelopment of management programs to provideA queen bee mates with an average of 12drones (range 1–32) and a well reared queen beewhen fully mated can contain from 4.3 millionto 7 million spermatozoa in her spermatheca. Afigure of 4.5 million is considered adequate forCanadian research has shown that a queenbee uses about 2 million sperm per year and aqueen bee containing less than 3 million spermafter mating can be expected to be supersededwithin 12 months under commercial conditions.A well reared,healthy drone can produce5–10 million sperm. Drones mature at about 16 days of age,and become less suitable formating after 28 days of age. The average life spanof a drone is 55 days,and varies with seasonalCapacity of a colony to rear andmaintain dronesStrong colonies with large numbers of workerbees rear and maintain more drone brood andadult drones than weaker colonies. Adult dronesdo not feed themselves but depend on anabundant supply of healthy nurse bees to feedthem on honey,pollen and gland secretions.Low numbers of healthy nurse bees in springmay contribute to problems with spring-rearedThe ability of a colony to maintain a highon stored pollen. Only pollen stored in closeproximity to brood shows a positive influence onof high quality pollen daily (2.1 – 2.8 kg/week).If this is not naturally available then pollen shouldbe fed to the colony each 3-5 days.Colonies in which pollen had been added to asugar syrup feed were found to have better-fedbrood than colonies in which pollen had beenfed dry.Colonies receiving a continuous supply of pollencolonies which do not receive a continuous supply Drone honey bees – rearing andDAI/112,Revised March 2002J. RhodesLivestock Officer,Apiary Products,Tamworth A reduction in external hive temperature inhives containing a laying queen or laying workerscontributes towards drone eviction.The age of the queen was found to be important,with higher rates of drone eviction from coloniesWeather conditions unsuitable for pollenproduction by plants or which prevent pollencollection by foraging worker bees may result indrone eviction.Extending the drone breeding seasonThe most important strategy found was toensure that colonies are fed pollen and/or pollensupplements on a regular and consistent basis.An alternative method for maintaining adultdrones out of season involves removing the queenfrom the hive and providing frames of bees andbrood from a queen-right colony and supplyingpollen on a regular basis.The relationship between drones andpollen availabilityWhen pollen is abundant then drone adults,pupae,larvae and eggs will be present. A shortage ofpollen in the previous 48 hours results in theabsence of drone larvae,but adults,pupae andeggs will be present. A shortage of pollen forthe previous 7 days will result in adult dronesbeing present,but no stages of drone brood.A pollen shortage for 14 days or more willresult in no adult or brood stages of dronespresent in the hive. Empty drone cells or dronecells filled with honey in the brood area indicatesa need for pollen to initiate drone rearing.The four basic requirements*The provision of surplus quality pollen at alltimes is essential to produce adequate numbersof mature drones,as is sufficient sugar syrup orhoney stores. The pollen may be either a natural*Use strong colonies headed by a proven queenpreferably more than one year old.*Drones are produced earlier if a drone comb isplaced in the middle of the brood chamber inautumn,preferably a comb with a mixture ofdrone and worker cells. In spring add one or twoframes containing drone cells as hive strengthand weather conditions allow.*Drone mother colonies require the same amountof management as queen cell raising colonies.BibliographyFree,J.B.; Williams,I.H. 1975. ‘Factorsthe honey bee colony’,.,23,650-675.Harizanis,P.C.; Gary,N.E. 1984. ‘The quality ofinsemination of queen honey bees mated underAmer. Bee Jour.,124,Laidlaw,H.H. Jr.,1979. Contemporary queenrearing,Dadant and Sons Inc.,Illinois,USA.Rinderer,T.E. (ed.),1986. Bee genetics andbreeding,Academic Press Inc.,Florida,USA.Rowlands,C.M.; McLellan,A.R.,1987. ‘Seasonalchanges of drone numbers in a colony of the honeyA. mellifera’Ecological Modelling,37,155-Ruttner,F.,1983. Queen rearing,ApimondiaPublishing House,Bucharest.Szabo,T.I.; Davis,D.T.,1988. spermatozoa in the spermatheca of queens from 0 to 3 years old reared in Beaverlodge,Alberta,,Second Australian and International BeeCongress,Queensland,Australia.Taber,S.,1987. Breeding super bees,A.I. RootCo.,Ohio,USA.Taber,S.,1998. ‘Drones’,American Bee Journal138 (12),891-892.Woyke,J.; Jasinski,Z.,1978. ‘Influence of age ofof honey bee queens’,Apidologie,9(3),203-211.Further readingAgnote DAI-111,Drone mother colonies –numbers and positioningAgnote DAI-113,Drone mother stock –Edited by William E.SmithInformation Delivery ProgramOrange, April 2002Agdex 481/13© NSW Agriculture (2002)on knowledge and understanding at the time of writing(March 2002). However,because of advances inknowledge,users are reminded of the need to ensurethat information upon which they rely is up to dateand to check currency of the information with theappropriate officer of New South Wales Departmentof Agriculture or the user’s independent adviser.