Establishing Two Queens Instead of one Queen in a Honey Bee Colony - Part IPrinciples of Introducing and Running Two-Queen Colonies

摘要

One of the fundamental operating tenets of any honey bee colony is that it will support only one queen, an innate characteristic of all species of honey bee [the dwarf honey bees, Apis florea and Apis andreniformis; the giant honey bees Apis dorsata,Apis binghami, Apis laboriosa and Apis brevigula; and the medium-sized, cavity dwelling Apis mellifera, Apis cerana, Apis nigrocincta, Apis nuluensis and Apis koschevnickov/]. At least that is the trend, one best found in swarming where both the parent and budded off (swarmed) colony end up with just one queen. That was forced by the selective evolutionary process of ceding all reproductive capacity to one individual, the single queen (or gyne) selected to head the colony.