Michael Bush answer to virgin queen mating, timing in secondary swarms

[susan rudnicki]

This topic of swarms and whether they are headed by a virgin or a laying queen is important to understand for the sequence of events you may encounter after you attempt to hive a new swarm. Many DIFFERENT scenarios can occur and bees may abscond if conditions don’t suit them. By providing what they may need, you increase the chance of success but some handling may interfere, so you need to be able to assess the situation clearly. Below is my question and MB’s answer.

> Michael—I just realized I did not know the sequence/timing of events in
> secondary and later swarms regarding the mating of the queen and timing.
> Does a virgin travel after hardening TO the new home site and THEN mate
> on a flight later?

Yes. Often, though, she is hardened by the time she gets out as they
often confine her and feed her through a gap in the “cap” she has chewed
out and they have propolized back shut.

> This question was prompted by a newbee taking one of
> my newly caught swarms-in-a-box and wanting to put queen excluder over the
> entrance for a few days to help with settling, but he was worried this
> could interfere with her need to go on the mating flight.

Yes it can. You can probably get away with it for a few days, but I
would not go as long as a week… Also, of course, all the drones will
be trapped and will clog the excluder…

> (of course, he
> does not know if he has a virgin in there or a laying queen) I think he
> would be better off providing a frame of drawn comb or a frame of brood to
> secure the swarm, rather than prevent her passage through the entrance.

Agreed. Open brood will work better anyway.

The below citation comes from “Huber’s New Observations Upon Bee’s, vl 1 and 2” which are very insightful investigations and observations made by Francoise Huber, a blind French researcher, in the 1800’s. Try to plow through the old-fashioned lingo and learn from it, as it is very instructive.

Huber:
http://www.bushfarms.com/huber.htm#letter9

“Every moment of the seventh, we expected the queen to leave the royal
cell shut on the thirtieth of May. The seven days had elapsed. The
waving of her cell was so deep, that what passed within was pretty
perceptible; we could discern that the silk of the coccoon was cut
circularly, a line and a half (3/24th in.=3.2 mm) from the extremity;
but the bees being unwilling that she should yet quit her cell, they had
soldered the covering to it with some particles of wax. What seemed most
singular was, that this female emitted a very distinct sound, or
clacking from her prison. It was still more audible in the evening, and
even consisted of monotonous notes in rapid succession. The same sound
proceeded from the royal cell on the eighth. Several bees kept guard
round each royal cell.

“The first cell opened on the ninth. The young queen was lively,
slender, and of a brown color. Now, we understood why bees retain the
female captive in their cells, after the period for transformation has
elapsed, it is that they may be able to fly the instant they are
hatched. The new queen occupied all our attention. When she approached
the other royal cells, the bees on guard pulled, bit her, and chased her
away, they seemed to be greatly irritated against her, and she enjoyed
tranquility only when at a good distance from these cells. This
procedure was frequently repeated through the day. She twice emitted the
sound, in doing so she stood her thorax against a comb and her wings
crossed on her back, they were in motion but without being unfolded or
further opened. Whatever might be the cause of her assuming this
attitude, the bees were affected by it; all hung down their heads, and
remained motionless.

“The hive presented the same appearances on the following day.
Twenty-three royal cells yet remained, diligently guarded by a great
many bees. When the queen approached, all the guards became agitated,
surrounded her on all sides bit, and commonly drove her away; sometimes
when in these circumstances, she emitted her sound, assuming the
position just described, from that moment the bees became motionless.

“The queen confined in the second cell had not yet left it, and was
heard to hunt several times. We accidentally discovered how the bees fed
her. On attentive examination, a small aperture was perceptible in the
end of the coccoon which she had cut to escape, and which her guard had
again covered with wax, to confine her still longer. She thrust her
trunk through the cleft, at first the bees did not observe it
alternately thrust out and drawn in, but one at length perceiving it,
came to apply its trunk to that of the captive queen, and then gave way
to others that also approached her with honey. When satisfied, she
retracted her trunk, and the bees again closed up the opening with wax.

“The queen this day between twelve and one became extremely agitated.
The royal cells had multiplied very much; she could go no where without
meeting them and on approaching she was very roughly treated. Then she
fled, but to obtain no better reception. At last, these things agitated
the bees; they precipitately rushed through the outlet of the hive, and
settled on a tree in the garden. It singularly happened that the queen
was herself unable to follow or conduct the swarm. She had attempted to
pass between two royal cells before they were abandoned by the bees
guarding them, and she was so confined and maltreated as to be incapable
of moving. We then removed her into a separate hive prepared for a
particular experiment.

“The bees, which had cluttered on a branch, soon discovered their queen
was not present, and returned of their own accord to the hive. Such is
an account of the second colony of this hive.

“We were extremely solicitous to ascertain what would become of the
other royal cells. Four of the close ones had attained complete
maturity, and the queens would have left them had not the bees prevented
it. They were not open either previous to the agitation of the swarms,
or at the moment of swarming.

“None of the queens were at liberty on the eleventh. The second should
have transformed on the eighth ; thus she had been three days confined,
a longer period than the first which formed the swarm. We could not
discover what occasioned the difference in their captivity.

“On the twelfth, the queen was at last liberated, as we found her in the
hive, She had been treated exactly as her predecessor, the bees allowed
her to rest in quiet, when distant from the royal cells, but tormented
her cruelly when she approached them. We watched this queen a long time,
but not aware that she would lead out a colony, we left the hive for a
few hours. Returning at mid-day, we were greatly surprised to find it
almost totally deserted. During our absence, it had thrown a prodigious
swarm, which still clustered on the branch of a neighboring tree. We
also saw with astonishment the third cell open, and its top connected to
it as by a hinge. In all probability, the captive queen, profiting by
the confusion that preceded the swarming, escaped. Thus, there was no
doubt of both queens being in the swarm. We found it so and removed
them, that the bees might return to the hive, which they did very soon.

“While we were occupied in this operation, the fourth captive queen left
her prison, and the bees found her on returning. At first they were very
much agitated, but calmed towards the evening, and resumed their wonted
labors. They formed a strict guard around the royal cells, and took
great care to remove the queen whenever she attempted to approach.
Eighteen royal cells now remained to be guarded.

“The fifth queen left her cell at ten at night; therefore two queens
were now in the hive. They immediately began fighting, but came to
disengage themselves from each other. However they fought several times
during the night without anything decisive. Next day, the thirteenth, we
witnessed the death of one, which fell by the wounds of her enemy. This
duel was quite similar to what is said of the combats of queens.

“The victorious queen now presented a very singular spectacle. She
approached a royal cell, and took this moment to utter the sound, and
assume that posture, which strikes the bees motionless. For some
minutes, we conceived that taking advantage of the dread exhibited by
the workers on guard, she would open it, and destroy the young female;
also she prepared to mount the cell, but in doing so she ceased the
sound, and quitted that attitude which paralyses the bees. The guardians
of the cell instantly took courage; and, by means of tormenting and
biting the queen, drove her away.

“On the fourteenth, the fifth young queen appeared, and the hive threw a
swarm, with all the concomitant disorder before described. The agitation
was so considerable, that a sufficient number of bees did not remain to
guard the royal cells, and several of the imprisoned queens were thus
enabled to make their escape. Three were in the cluster formed by the
swarm, and other three remained in the hive. We removed those that had
left the colony, to force the bees to return. They entered in hive,
resumed their post around the royal cells, and maltreated the queen when
a duel took place in the night of the fifteenth, in which one queen
fell. We found her dead next morning before the hive; but three still
remained, as one had been hatched during night. Next morning we saw a
duel. Both combatants were extremely agitated, either with the desire of
fighting, or the treatment of the bees, when they came near the royal
cells. Their agitation quickly communicated to the rest of the bees, and
at mid-day they departed impetuously with the two females. This the
fifth swarm that had left the hive the thirtieth of May and fifteenth of
June. On the fifteenth, a fifth swarm cast, which I shall give you no
account of, as it showed nothing new.

“Unfortunately, we lost this, which was a very strong swarm, the bees
flew out of sight, and could never be found. The hive was now very,
thinly inhabited. Only the few bees that had not participated in the
general agitation remained, and those that returned from the fields
after the swarm had departed. The cells were, therefore, slenderly
guarded. The queens escaped from them, and engaged in several combats,
until the throne remained with the most successful.

“Notwithstanding the victories of this queen, she was treated with great
indifference from the fifteenth to the nineteenth, that is, the three
days that she preserved her virginity. At length, having gone to seek
the males, she returned with all the external signs of fecundation, and
was henceforth received with every mark of respect; she laid her first
eggs forty-six hours after fecundation. Behold, Sir, a simple and
faithful account of my observations on the formation of swarms. That the
narrative might be the more connected, I have avoided interrupting it by
the detail of several particular experiments which I made at the same
time for elucidating various obscure points of their history. There
shall be the subject of future letters. For, although I have said so
much, I hope still to interest you.”–Francis Huber, New Observations on
the Natural History of Bees, letter 9

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