Using queen excluder helps to prevent absconding of newly installed bees, and trait selections.
Contributed by Brother williams
If you can keep the bees in a hive long enough for the queen to produce some brood, the bees almost always stay with the
brood - if it is in the larval stage. Larvae produce a pheromone known as
"juvenile pheromone" - sometimes referred to as "hormone"than pheromone. It is this pheromone that causes the colony to stay with the hive. The pheromone is not produced in sufficient amount by bees in the egg stage, and is not produced by bees in the pupal stage, so it is necessary to have
larvae present in the hive to hold the bees there.
When I catch a swarm, I take a piece of equipment called a "queen excluder", and cover the entrance to the hive, making sure the bees cannot leave the hive through other openings. This allows workers to forage freely, but will not let the queen - or drones - leave the hive.
This will keep the queen in the hive long enough to produce brood, which will help in keeping the colony in the hive. With the African bee, there is a characteristic of absconding as a survival mechanism. Although African bees do store surplus honey that may be used by the colony for food during times of drought or when there are no good sources of nectar available, the tendency of the African bee when confronted with a period of dearth is to simply leave the hive and find a more suitable area for foraging.
To ease this tendency would require a careful breeding program selecting stock that has lower absconding rates, then line-breeding these genetic lines for several honeybee-generations. The desired tendency (lower rate of absconding) may prove to be "recessive", and may have to be
continually selected in each breeding-generation.
This is the case with defensive behavior. Gentleness can be achieved through careful breeding programs, but is lost in the very first out-cross using non-selected stock;
it is a very recessive trait. Using a queen excluder is the simplest method
of handling this issue.
Contributed by Brother williams
If you can keep the bees in a hive long enough for the queen to produce some brood, the bees almost always stay with the
brood - if it is in the larval stage. Larvae produce a pheromone known as
"juvenile pheromone" - sometimes referred to as "hormone"than pheromone. It is this pheromone that causes the colony to stay with the hive. The pheromone is not produced in sufficient amount by bees in the egg stage, and is not produced by bees in the pupal stage, so it is necessary to have
larvae present in the hive to hold the bees there.
When I catch a swarm, I take a piece of equipment called a "queen excluder", and cover the entrance to the hive, making sure the bees cannot leave the hive through other openings. This allows workers to forage freely, but will not let the queen - or drones - leave the hive.
This will keep the queen in the hive long enough to produce brood, which will help in keeping the colony in the hive. With the African bee, there is a characteristic of absconding as a survival mechanism. Although African bees do store surplus honey that may be used by the colony for food during times of drought or when there are no good sources of nectar available, the tendency of the African bee when confronted with a period of dearth is to simply leave the hive and find a more suitable area for foraging.
To ease this tendency would require a careful breeding program selecting stock that has lower absconding rates, then line-breeding these genetic lines for several honeybee-generations. The desired tendency (lower rate of absconding) may prove to be "recessive", and may have to be
continually selected in each breeding-generation.
This is the case with defensive behavior. Gentleness can be achieved through careful breeding programs, but is lost in the very first out-cross using non-selected stock;
it is a very recessive trait. Using a queen excluder is the simplest method
of handling this issue.
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