Of relevance to everyone

[Hunajavelho]

Newly hatched bees are larvae...... brood in other words.

Yes it’s the feeding larvae and production of brood food that does it not feeding young bees.

Newly hatched might be wrong to say... but what I meant was newly emerging bees are young bees and it is the feeding and nursing of these that shortens the lifespan of bees not feeding and caring for larvae.

This is also why the swarm leafs after they have produced the brood and before most of the brood in the hive has emerged and why the swarm bees becomes winter bees in the summer.

Ralph Bühler mentions this as well in one of those lectures when talking about brood removal.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Newly hatched might be wrong to say... but what I meant was newly emerging bees are young bees and it is the feeding and nursing of these that shortens the lifespan of bees not feeding and caring for larvae.

This is also why the swarm leafs after they have produced the brood and before most of the brood in the hive has emerged and why the swarm bees becomes winter bees in the summer.

Ralph Bühler mentions this as well in one of those lectures when talking about brood removal.

Are newly emerged bees fed by the others?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Are newly emerged bees fed by the others?

It's a new one on me

 

[Beefriendly]

Are newly emerged bees fed by the others?

Most bees feed each other. Those with nectar in their crop giving it to those begging for food, presumably mainly nurse bees that are yet to forage.. According to Tautz there are even specialist feeder bees feeding the high energy usage "heater bees" in the winter cluster.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Most bees feed each other. Those with nectar in their crop giving it to those begging for food, presumably mainly nurse bees that are yet to forage.. According to Tautz there are even specialist feeder bees feeding the high energy usage "heater bees" in the winter cluster.

Ah of course. He means Trophallaxis. I remember reading about heater bees too

 

[For want of a better word]

Ah of course. He means Trophallaxis. I remember reading about heater bees too

Thanks... word was on the pip of my tongue !

 

[Fusion_power]

"hygenic bees" seems to be a dead alley that some are stuck in....

Highly mite resistant bees usually are also highly hygienic. Caveat that there are some populations of bees that have developed resistance sans hygienic behavior. I would state this a different way by saying that hygienic traits are useful, but are only part of a resistance mechanism. Hygienic behavior is beneficial in controlling brood diseases.

I think a brood break by itself wouldn't really help.

It reduces varroa's reproduction rate. It is also a component of resistance in that some resistance traits seem to work only when brood breaks occur. I have not seen proof, but suspect this is tied to allogrooming traits.

It seems to me that a brood break is not the panacea that it was thought be.

When it comes to varroa, there is no panacea. However, as beekeepers adopt and adapt to managing bees with genetic resistance, natural brood breaks play an important part. My observation is that Italian queens do not stop laying during summer and are universally susceptible to varroa. My mite resistant stock always have a mid-summer brood break and after that break, varroa numbers are reduced.