Behavioural Studies on Queen Introduction in the Honeybee. 2. Effect of Age and Storage Conditions of Virgin Queens on their Attractiveness to Workers

Summary

The response of worker honeybees was observed towards 5 age groups of 10 virgin queens in perspex cages. The introduced queens were most readily accepted at the ages of 7 and 35 days; those aged 14, 21 or 28 days were usually rejected. A multiple regression showed that worker aggression was dependent upon the queen's age and attractiveness, and that attractiveness was the more important factor.

The weight loss of virgin queens, stored for 5 days in either queenless or queenright colonies which were fed or unfed, was greatest in queenright unfed colonies. Aggression of groups of 75 caged workers was greatest towards introduced queens which had been stored in queenless unfed colonies.

A group of 10 virgin queens stored for 4 days in laboratory cages or in a queenless colony in a flight room lost significantly more weight than 10 queens stored in a queenless colony outdoors. The attractiveness of the queens from the outdoor colony was considerably higher than that of the queens from the other 2 groups.