BEE INTRODUCTION, ITS CLIPPING AND MARKING

Transcription

1 / EXERCISE 22 Structure' 22.0 Introduction Objectives TECHNIQUES IN QUEEN BEE INTRODUCTION, ITS CLIPPING AND MARKING 22.1.Procedure Principle, RequireIl\ents. f-~.... : ill ~,:1 I! \,f '~~I '1' f' Steps 22.2 Observations and Result r, d 'I!(! ~ )' r,.: ') I 22.3 Prec~uitions.-:. \ ; -, (".If;'" ~ 1,';! ')'.;",!.' /. 11 ';:11 /i,j()"." I '~,' ":~ ~,t '/ l.!i'.; 22.0: :IN:TROI):UCTION"'j't I,' j! ~ ~.' (.,. i.!.:;f/~ f': I j"t.) (,f I..r, :!,' 'if; {... ;~~. ~. The mated-and laying queen, when needed i;!.iuw,c~0ny, ary:tp be transferred into that colony p,ith~,directlyirom the.mating nuclei or from quren, beebank. But, ' the queen bee cannot be transferred asaucp into the.recipient colony as the alien queen will not be accepted into this colony. There are certain ways to introduce the 'queen bee'irito'sofne 'other colonyto make the queen bee receptive into this coloriy, Sueli tfansfei'oftheq{een'is called 'Queen Bee'Introductiori': Queen bee is clipped-of-its certainparts-of wjn' ~li\hy, ~~<~:P;f, t~etc;! ~ (t~~,rearing year) of t~e-.9~~.e!l_~_~e_or t? yre~ent s,::,~rtg of colony or 0r'bo~h thepurposes, Further, queen bee may be marked on its thorax with some non-corrosive, nontoxic icolodfs'~illi.eho'rhltkeit 'ea Hy' di~t:ili'g~ishabte'among' th~'b~~' ih' the'c'6ioi& or to keep record of the age of the queen bee. This exercise'deals 'with practicing the various techniques of the-queen bee inq:w:lucti9n,j1f ~~ii?ptn~j:lpdmarking with colours. ",/.";., '." 1 ',~;. il. K r,, Objectives>, i I ( ;1. _, ' ;,, ' /' ~ (j I),! _i!... r. t I' C, { The objective of this exercise is to make the readers conversant with the various techniques of queen bee introduction, its clipping and its markin~ with colours,! It _ ~ r" ;1' '. (! i.j I ~ i' ":. '. I r). r PRp.C~I,>U~ Before explaining the procedure, let us 'look into the principle of this exercise.' Principle ~,. 64 Queen bee from one colony is introduced into any other colony such that it is accepted by the recipient colony and no damage occurs to this queen bee for which the queen bee and the recipient colony must match with respect to the their pheromone i.e. both have to be ensured to have same smell. Wing clipping is resorted to by cutting the queen's wings of one side (ofleft side during odd years and of right side during even years). Clipping is a very easy operation which causes no pain to the queen bee. For queen bee's marking, either some special colours or special bee marking pens are used. During different years, the queen bees are marked with different colours as per the 'International Code of Marking of Queen Bees'.

2 Requirements 1. A queenless honeybee colony, Techniques in Queen Bee -lntroduction, Its Clipping and Marking 2. Mating nuclei with laying queen bees/queen bee bank, 3. Benton queen cages, 4. Push-in queen cage, 5. Smoker, 6. Fresh honey, 7. Fine pair of scissors with long narrow pointed blades, 8. Bee marking colours, 9. Bee marking pens, and 10. Queen bee marking paper discs/ marking plastic caps. Steps i) Queen Bee Introduction ' 1. Queen bee introduction involves putting the young mated queen bee into queenless colony either for setting the colony queen-right or for older queen bee replacement or into the divides for stock multiplication. 2. Prefer to select queen bee for introduction which is young and has not realized its high prolificness as yet. 3. Preferably, the recipient colony should have sufficient brood. 4.. Try to introduce new queen bee by housing it into mailing (wooden Benton cage) as well as in hair roller cage. 5. The mailing cage housing the queen bee should have candy in the designated compartment of the cage with a cork in the candy side hole of the cage. 6. At the time of introduction of queen bee into queenless colony, remove the attendant bees from the cage and also the cork in the candy hole of the queen cage. 7. Then suspend the cage having queen bee and candy between the two brood combs in the colony. 8. In.due course, the worker bees will eat through the candy and will release the queen bee. 9. In the use of plastic hair roller cage, the queen is required to be released by the beekeeper himself. The queen bee in this cage should not be left for longer period. Provide candy in the lid of the hair roller queen cage. 10. Queen bee should be released very gently onto the brood comb. 11. After sometime, observe the acceptance of the queen bee i.e. it is not.balled by the bees of the colony. 12. Also practice the other method of introducing the new queen bee from her mailing cage directly onto near emergence brood comb and young bees. 65

3 Practical Manual - Management of Honeybee Colonies 13. In this method, brood combs near emergence of bees are to be placed in the super chamber of the colony after shaking the majority of bees of the combs in the lower brood chamber so that the bees, which remain on the combs in the super, are young bees. 14. Then keep the super chamber separated from the brood chamber by a screen. The new queen bee is introduced by suspending the cage between the combs in the super chamber or by releasing her on the combs where she will be readily accepted by the young bees. 15. After it has been accepted! started laying eggs, remove the screen. 16. Another method of queen bee introduction is 'Push-in Cage Method'. 17. In this method, a 4 inch x 4 inch square of ordinary screen wire is bent along each edge to form four sides making a wire cage. 18. This cage may have a wooden frame all along its edges which projects a little downwards, on the lower side of which is fixed a pointedly teeth like cut metal strip to form several teeth. 19. The teeth will be helpful in fixing the cage on to the comb. 20. Fit this cage on the sealed worker brood near emergence of adult bees with also a few unripe honey cells and release the new queen bee inside/ under the cage before its fixing on the comb. 21. The cage will be without any other bees than those which are freshly emergmg. 22. After 2-3 days, remove the cage. In the meanwhile, the queen bee would have been accepted by the bees emerging inside the cage and subsequently by the bees of the colony. ii) Queen Bees' Clipping 1. Pick up the queen bee by the wings or the thorax but never by the abdomen. 2. Lift the queen bee straight onto the ball of the left thumb to allow her to clasp it with her legs. 3. Then allow her to move forward between the first and second fingers which are held together against each other. 4. Holding queen in this way, a slight pressure is applied from the sides of the thorax to hold it firmly. 5. While her wings are remaining folded, clip about half of both the one side wings of the queen bee. Clip right side wings during even number years and left wings during odd number years. ill) Queen Bees' Marking 1. Marking of the queen bees is done with various coloured spots or glued paper discs or plastic caps or queen marking pens onto the thorax For marking with paint, use any quick drying lacquer or nail polish which does not harm the queen bees.

4 3. Apply lacquer with a small camel hair brush and allow it to dry before releasing the queen bee. 4. Before actual marking, preferably try out the adverse effects of the paint, if any, on drone bees. Techniques in Queen Bee Introduction, Its Clipping and Marking 5. The paint spots or discs can be placed on the queen bee holding it in one of the many types of cages or.may be applied while it is held in hand. 6. Posca bee marking pens are used the most conveniently in western countries for marking queen bees. 7. Ensure that these colours should last during the life time of the queen bee. 8. There is internationally accepted scheme of colours for marking the queen bees produced during years ending with different digits (Fig. 22.1). Fig.22.1: Colour Scheme for Marking Queen Bees Reared During Years Ending with Different Digits twhiteor GREY I I lor6 YELLOW I I ior7 RED GREEN,. - 30R8 I -I 40R9 BLUE - 50RO 22.2 OBSERVATIONS AND RESULT Record the relevant observations and try to correlate with your understanding of the theme of the exercise PRECAUTIONS The queen bee should be released very gently onto the combs and should not be thrown on the combs during its introduction. After sometime of introduction, must check for the acceptance of the queen bee by the recipient colony. If it has been balled, immediately get it released from the bees and again put it into cage and then again try its release the next day. Preferably young mated and laying queen bees should be chosen for introduction to make them easily and quickly acceptable by the bees of the recipient colony. 67

5 Practical Manual - Management of Honeybee Colonies '. -,- The push-in cage should be inserted deep enough into ili,1face of the comb so that the outside bees cl!e unable to move through theromb and reach the new queen bee..c -..~ During clipping and marking ofqueen bees, never holctthese from abdomen ensuring that abdomen is never pressed.. t After clipping and marking of queen bees, these shotiiil be put back into their.,j. ' ;. original colonies very gently. For use of any paint for marking, their adverse effect on the bees, if any, y- must be checked by their prior application on drqne bees. l- \'.~t't " k ~ 1