Worldwide Beekeeping
Beekeeping => General Beekeeping => Topic started by: Jen on April 25, 2014, 05:45:22 pm
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Is there any difference if an egg is standing on end, or laying down, as far as how old it is? Days? Hours?
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eggs stay standing on their end until moments before hatching, to the best of my knowledge.
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Yes, first layed is standing on end. Eggs on about a 45 deg I always called 2 day old. Laying flat on third day.
Just my opinion. I cold be wrong.
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Woody, so they kind of 'timber' I guess. Cause I've seen eggs at all different angles. So if I see one that is standing on end it's about 1-2 days old... okay ;)
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A article by David Cushman
Development of Honey Bee Eggs
Between Laying and Hatching
The early Life of a Honey Bee Egg once it has been laid
Honey bee eggs are very small and white, they have the appearnce of a miniature grain of rice that is slightly curved. Each egg is not much longer than a typewritten dash ( - 1.2 mm long) and they are light in weight at 0.12 -0.22 mg.
Eggs are fairly durable and are attached to the bottom of the cell with an adhesive secreted by the queen. It is always positioned small (tail end) end down. The cell acts as a protective receptacle while embrionic development takes place.
"The next three days are usually reported as being a time during which the egg gradually leans over until it lays on its side on the cell base. Some texts even say that you can tell how old an egg is by looking at the angle."
This is absolute balderdash and has been propagated down the ages through badly researched books.
Very little egg movement takes place during most of the 72 hour normal development period. If you had time lapse facilities you might see very slight alterations in curvature of the egg, but they are minimal. Movement of the egg to lay flat does not start until the chorion (the egg's outer membranous covering) actually starts to dissolve as the larva 'hatches'. This dissolved 'eggshell' is consumed as food by the larva, but may have royal jelly added to it before it is totally consumed.
An egg normally develops in 72 hours, but this time can vary between two to six days. Temperature variations affect the length of the egg's development time.
The egg is filled with cytoplasm, a nucleus, and a yolk. The nucleus is near the big end of the egg and plays a major role in the development of a future bee.
During the first stages of development before the egg hatches, the nervous system, the outer covering and the organs of the digestive system are formed. The egg remains in an upright position (with the soon to develop head on top) for three days then gradually leans onto its side.
During the first day, the egg nucleus divides-if the egg is unfertilized; or if the egg is fertilized, the fusion nucleus or zygote divides. It is not until the third day that the embryo form (with head and body segments) can be seen within the egg. The head is present at the larger unattached end and the back (dorsum) is on the incurved (concave) side.
The first sign of hatching occurs when an egg is 72 to 84 hours old. Muscular contractions by the embryo cause a gentle, weaving motion that apparently results in a tiny hole being torn in the outer membrane (chorion). Fluid from within the egg soon emerges and covers the external surface. The embryo with its "tail" attached to the base of the cell continues to move about until its head also touches the base and an arch is formed. In this "croquet wicket" stage, the chorion evidently is dissolved. The larva then eases itself over against the bottom of the cell into the familiar C-shaped position). size of the honey bee egg (D: 0.3 mm, L: 1.6 mm) and the long preblastoderm stage (11-12 h)
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As said I could be wrong, I often am. I haven't read anything on the subject just going from what I see. When I'm looking for a queen I just give frames with open brood and flat eggs a passing glance. When I come to a frame with eggs standing on end I look it over pretty good. This doesn't mean she's there of course.
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Woody, I do the same, when I find eggs, of which I use a magnifying glass now, I take a few more seconds to examine them. That what I did today while searching to dequeen my hives.
So this article that Barry posted says that the eggs are standing up for 72 hours? Am I reading that right?
only curious cause we did an inspection last night, I wasn't looking for eggs, I was looking for a queen of which I didn't find. I saw eggs laying down and standing up today, was wondering if she could have laid today...
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It is the movement of the larvae attempting to penetrate the membrane of the egg that causes the orientation of the egg to change from straight and with a slight curve in the egg to a straighter egg, but starting to lean and during the course of the last 24 hours to lay on it's side as it actually hatches.
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Interesting article and topic.
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I've been working too hard this week. Eyes are blurry and my head fuzzy.
I started reading this thread and was relating all of the egg talk to chicken eggs. Very confusing thread from that angle
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So if I understand MR. Cushman. An egg laying on its side in theory could be called a 3 day old egg. One on a 45 deg angle would be maybe 2-7/8 days old?
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Lol
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Good Morning Keith!
""I started reading this thread and was relating all of the egg talk to chicken eggs. Very confusing thread from that angle"'
And, I started the thread with the topic title being 'Fresh Eggs?' then chuckled knowing someone would post "I like mine scrambled please" :D
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So glad I wasn't the only one who was thinking chickens for the first couple of posts. Sometimes, I am not as quick to catch on to some things here, but at least I was in good company on this error, LOL.
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I just checked this hive at the house and the queen is up in the shallows (loves it there). I was finding multiple eggs in cells. I noted that in cells that had two eggs the one was off set and laying on its side and the one on the center was standing up. I did see her majesty so I put that box just above the deep and threw an excluder over her. I was messing around for a while looking for QC or maybe a second queen since the only time I have seen multiple eggs before is on a new queen. Last hive check on that hive was on the 6th. All stages of brood. Top 2 shallows were close to 100% full of brood. Two deeps were also brood. The bottom deep was 50% untouched and what was hit on the side was honey.