Author Topic: Queen development question  (Read 3420 times)

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Offline Yankee11

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Queen development question
« on: March 24, 2016, 10:27:45 am »
When a queen is about 2 to 3 days from hatching, they are pretty developed, legs, head, eyes etc. At this stage, should there still be royal jelly in the top of the cups or are they done with it at this point.

I opened checked a few today ( trying to learn) and they developed. They are down in the wax part of the cell, but I don't see any jelly in the upper part of the cell cups. So I assume at some point they are done with the jelly and fall down into the bottom of cup.

Above my pay grade here. :)

Offline Ray

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Re: Queen development question
« Reply #1 on: March 24, 2016, 12:05:00 pm »
Interesting question. I'm not qualified to answer  :D , but that hasn't stopped me yet.


http://www.beeculture.com/a-closer-look-varroa-mite-reproduction/

" The reproductive phase is initiated when the female mite leaves the adult host and enters a brood cell with a 5th instar larva shortly before the cell is capped. This foundress female passes between the larva and the cell wall to the bottom of the cell and becomes stuck within the larval food (larval jelly). Approximately five hours after cell capping, the bee larva has consumed the rest of the larval food which frees the mite (Ifantidis 1988)."

If this holds true of the queen's development, then there is no larval food in the cell shortly after capping.

Offline Jen

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Re: Queen development question
« Reply #2 on: March 24, 2016, 02:33:06 pm »
In my book... We need Apis for this question  ;D
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Offline efmesch

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Re: Queen development question
« Reply #3 on: March 24, 2016, 04:39:21 pm »
No intent to push Apis aside.  I'm sure that he'll add much more to what I can say.
Queen rearers try to raise them in circumstances that will produce the best queens--and that generally means they must have as much food as they can possibly need.  If they have inadequate food, their development will be inadequate.  The best indication that a queen was raised with enough food is finding remaining royal jelly at the base of the queen cell after she emerges.  Of course, it is possible that she grew under the necessaary ideal conditions and had enough food and finished all of it just as her need for it  ended, but there is no way of knowing that other than seeing some left-overs. 
Generally, a well fed queen will leave this extra royal jelly at the base of the queen cell and it becomes visible after she emerges.  Not having been replenished while the queen cell was closed, it usually is dried out, a bit shriveled and can be removed as a yellowish chunk..

Offline apisbees

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Re: Queen development question
« Reply #4 on: March 24, 2016, 06:37:37 pm »
What ef said.
The bee bread is only fed to the eggs after they hatch to larva, And it the egg is going to be raised as a queen the food fed to the larva is altered by the bees to royal jelly. The bees are goos at gaging the amount of royal jelly to place in the cell. after the 5th larval stage and the larva pupates  and spins its cocoon no more food is consumed until the queen emerges.
If only a small amount of royal jelly is left in the cells It will be dehydrated and translucent and hard to see if there was any left.
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Offline Zweefer

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Re: Queen development question
« Reply #5 on: March 24, 2016, 06:55:31 pm »
And I can check "learn something new today" off the list :yes:
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Offline Yankee11

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Re: Queen development question
« Reply #6 on: March 24, 2016, 09:02:10 pm »
So, I'm probably good then with this batch of queens.

I was just concerned cause I saw the JZBZ cups full of royal jelly before they were capped. Now that I am moving them to mating nucs I can see the cups are pretty much empty. Supposed to start hatching Sat.

We'll see what happens.

Thanks.

Offline capt44

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Re: Queen development question
« Reply #7 on: March 29, 2016, 12:16:17 am »
What I've noticed using either the jzbz, nicot or wax cups is when that queen emerges there is nothing left in that cell.
I either place my queen cells in nucs or hives a day before they are due to emerge.
When I place them in the incubator I put distilled water in the bottom or the nicot cage and just a dab of royal jelly.
When I see them in the cage I tear the cell off the cell cup and put queen candy I make in the cup.
The queens will go back to where that queen cell was and curl around that plastic cell feeding on the candy.
It takes a lot of energy for a queen to free herself from that cell.
When I see a queens tongue working at the cap I take a toothpick and open that cell like the nurse bees help them in a hive.
I keep the temperature at a constant 93 degrees F and humidity at 72% continuous.
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Offline LazyBkpr

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Re: Queen development question
« Reply #8 on: March 29, 2016, 07:29:43 pm »
i was tought, and have read, that the best queens do have some amount of royal jelly left, but it has always been a question in my mind, they emerge head first, so how would they access the royal jelly IF, there was any left at the later stages of development? They cannot turn around in the cell, and I have twice in my beekeeping career opened large healthy looking queen cells that did not hatch/emerge, to find the queen upside down in the cell.....    if they CAN reach the royal jelly they cant get out, if they cant reach it they can cut their way out..
   So.. Basically, when a queen emerges, and I find a bit of royal jelly left over, I am happier than if I find none... But I do not know where the line is drawn in the sand as far as "enough" royal jelly.
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