Like so much in modern life, change in beekeeping is accelerating. This year was marked by a new apiary law, and the passing of Ralph Wadlow, one of the last of Florida's old-time beekeeping pioneers. With the realization that the Varroa bee mite is here to stay, its more and more apparent that the era of the let-alone beekeeper (beehaver) has come to an end. It's time to stand back, reflect a little, and take a deep breath before the tide of events determinedly washes us into 1993.
This year began with a report in APIS on deliberations of the Honey Bee Technical Council, advisory body to the Florida Commissioner of Agriculture. At that time, the Council ratified the concept of a registration/inspection fee. This set the stage for the new Apiary statute which became law in July.
Also in January, the
The February issue of APIS outlined the Lyme Disease situation in Florida and
provided recipes for supplementing honey
bee protein needs. Egyptian beekeeping,
its history and current status, was featured in March. Possible problems
discovered in Israel while relying on
fluvalinate for mite control highlighted the April edition. Two
extensive articles concerning informing the public about the African bees were
published this year (May and August). The latter contained a sample letter which could be sent to fire chiefs
informing them about their possible role, as perceived by the public, in dealing
with wild or feral honey bees. In May and
November, the consequences of air
pollution on citrus (and by extension, nectar production in those trees) were
described. The June issue was a potpourri: it discussed honey freshness, formation of the Caribbean
Apicultural Development Association (CADA), why honey bees are poor pollinators in some situations, and the
Florida Forest Stewardship Program.
The July APIS provided feedback from bee inspectors concerning
extender patty technology (also mentioned
in the August issue) and formic acid
dangers. The entire September issue
focused on bee breeding and the one for October concentrated on the antibiotic
properties of honey, New Zealand Manuka Honey and evidence of resistance to Apistan in Italy.
Finally, last month (November), this newsletter listed the rules of the new Florida apiary law and
analyzed the changing patterns in bee inspection this might portend. In
addition, it reported the disquieting news
that a compatibility problem might exist when using mite control products
[Miticur (R) and Apistan (R)] in concert
How many have looked at the random movement of honey bees in a colony and
seen only chaos? It is amazing that out of what at first glance appears to be
random movement by thousands of individual insects, wonderful organizational
patterns emerge. This confounded the ancients, who no doubt gave the credit to
a panoply of gods. Researchers, using the tools of modern science, however, are
constantly finding new clues about how order is established in a honey bee
colony. That the source of much of it is from the queen is no surprise, but the
details are often beyond our experience.
It is now definite that certain chemicals, called pheromones,
regulate many of the activities of social insect societies. In "The Essence of
Royalty: Honey Bee Queen Pheromone," (American Scientist: Vol. 80, No.
4, pp. 374-385, July-August 1992, M. Winston and K. Slessor state that some 36
pheromones have been identified in honey bees. Those of the queen, called
primer pheromones, have long been thought to control the colony. Studies
suggest they suppress queen cell construction by the colony and also block
ovarial development in worker bees. There is also evidence queen pheromones
attract workers (and drones) and stimulate foraging. Early
research in this field first identified two chemical compounds, 9-keto-2-
decenoic acid (9ODA) and 9-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid (9HDA), found in the
mandibular glands of queens as possible candidates for queen pheromone. These,
particularly the latter, were often referred to as "queen substance." Although
these compounds were active, the authors state that when synthesized, they did
not fully duplicate the effects of mandibular gland extract. It remained
for the authors to discover that adding three more chemicals (two of completely
different structure) made a pheromonal complex that was equivalent to mandibular
gland extract. They emphasize that all the components are necessary for this
royal essence to work; removing any one reduces activity by up to 50 percent.
The component blend will vary with age. Virgin queens have practically none of
these pheromones, only secreting the full array after being mated and laying
eggs. Finally, the authors state that several other glands secrete chemicals
that play a role in queen pheromonal communication. Once the components
of queen pheromone had been established, the authors proceeded to test for
function. They found the pheromone complex suppressed queen rearing, attracted
workers to the cluster and caused them to congregate together, and stimulated
brood rearing and foraging. The latter might be the best commercial application
of queen pheromones, as worker attractants in crop pollination. In a surprising
development, the authors were unable to show that the pheromone supressed worker
bee ovarial development. A final part of the pheromonal puzzle
concerned how the chemicals reached all workers in the colony. The authors were
able to confirm what many have long thought. That bees in the royal retinue
surrounding the queen transfer the pheromones from her to themselves and thence
to their sisters. Two types of bees were identified by the authors: lickers
and antennators. The former disperse most of the pheromone; why there are two
kinds of workers in the retinue is a mystery. The comb wax also picks up some
pheromone which is later transferred to other workers. The question of how the
bees detect the pheromones remains unresolved. The authors were surprised
to find that almost all the queen pheromone produced ends up internalized both
in the queen's and workers' bodies. The route can be through either the mouth
or the skin (cuticle). This internalization may be one reason the queen
produces so much pheromone. The authors suggest there might be a push-pull in
worker-queen conflict. In order to escape the queen's chemical control, workers
quickly try to absorb and break down (catabolize) the regulating chemicals. At
the same time, the queen attempts to manufacture more pheromones to increase her
dominance. This is analogous, the authors contend, with many families and
societies that show a blend of cooperation and conflict, with some objectives in
common, but individuals having their own goals as well. Much of the
dynamics in queen-worker conflict happens in swarming. Only when insufficient
amount of pheromones are present will workers begin to rear queens. Given a
queen that is constantly producing these controlling chemicals, the possibility
exists for a reduction in pheromone only as colonies expand their population. A
time is reached where there simply is not enough pheromone to go around,
particularly if more and more is being internalized by greater numbers of
workers. The authors were able to delay swarming by adding pheromones to the
nest either impregnated in stationary blocks or as a spray. Reducing swarming,
therefore, is thought to be another possible commercial use of royal
essence. The application of queen pheromones to control swarming is
described further by Y. Lensky and P. Cassier in "Control of Swarming by Queen
Bee Pheromones," BeeScience, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 7-11, March, 1992. The authors
contrast emergency or supersedure cells being constructed in the nest's center
(source of queen pheromones lost or very reduced) with swarm cells being built
on the edges (queen pheromones not reaching the periphery). They determined a
two-stage process in the latter process: (1) queen cups are constructed where a
queen can lay an egg and (2) the cup with its egg is then transformed into a
queen cell. The authors confirm that as the worker population grows
and nest congestion develops, the tendency to swarm increases. This is
especially true when the queen's movement is restricted. They go one step
further, however, by concluding that another pheromone is acting together with
chemicals from the mandibular gland to suppress queen rearing. This is an oily
substance emitted from the queen's feet that she leaves on the comb. The paper
describes the structure of the gland that produces the queen's footprint
substance. Although unable as yet to prevent swarming using pheromone
application, the authors have developed a procedure calculated to decrease it.
They have minimized the production of new queens and thus reduced swarming by
(1) annual requeening, (2) increasing the volume of hives by adding supers in
excess, 3) raising 7 to 8 brood frames from the brood nest into the supers above
the queen excluders, (4) preventing overheating by providing additional openings
to help ventilation and (5) providing a constant water supply in the bee yard.
This technique takes into consideration most of what is known about the
pheromonal order established by queen honey bees, but one always ready to be
undermined by the workers they control.
Malcolm T. Sanford
ESTABLISHING ORDER--SWARM CONTROL
We've been hearing a lot about the New World Order lately. The term has
many meanings, depending on what part of the earth is discussed: Somalia,
India, Serbia. Whether countries themselves, the United Nations or the United
States consider taking action when things get out of control, the goal is always
the same, to establish order. The perennial questions are what kind is needed
and how is it to be preserved. After all, even chaos (most dictionaries define
this as "disorder") mathematicians now tell us, has order.
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