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Fainting Queens |
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FAINTING QUEENS
Late last June Mike Rowbottom and I got into conversation on the subject of the state of our colonies, queen fertility, swarming, supercedure, quantity of brood for the time of year – all the usual stuff,- when Mike came up with something that I had never heard of let alone experienced.
Mike and Judith had a few days previously been going through one of their nucleus colonies which had a young queen, when the queen was seen falling off a frame. She was found lying on her side on the bottom board with one antenna twitching! She was carefully placed back onto a top bar, the hive was quietly closed, and Mike, hoping very much that he had not done anything to damage her during his colony manipulation, went off to do a bit of research.
A few weeks later I was about the business of weekly inspections and opened a strong colony which I knew had a queen a very few weeks old. I carefully removed the supers and the top brood box, gave the bottom box a puff of smoke and started going through the frames. This gave me a view of the bottom board and guess what? There lying on her side twitching occasionally was my lovely young queen. The only available course of action was to rest her gently on the top bar of a frame, cross my fingers, murmur a prayer for her recovery, go home and start digging into the pests, predators and diseases literature.
The common threads were (a) the queens were young – a very few weeks old and (b) we were both fairly confident that it was unlikely to be due to injury caused by ourselves, particularly in my case as the queen as found not lying under the location in which I was working.
Mike posted an article about his experience on the Bee-Line, and in response three beekeepers, including two commercial beekeepers, one in the USA and one in the UK said they had occasionally seen this phenomena.
In the book Honey Bee Pests, Predators and Diseases, third edition, edited by Roger A Morse and Kim Flottum, a volume of rather more than seven hundred pages, there is one paragraph devoted to a topic which is headed ‘Catalepsy in Queen Bees’. This would appear to be an indication of just how uncommon this is. The opening observation in this paragraph is that queens rarely faint but have been observed to do so by beekeepers who handle large quantities of queens. An early references to the condition from 1922 noted that catalepsy happened only to young queens. The book concludes that the cause is unknown but may result from a temporary nervous disorder. In some cases the queen does not revive.
Catalepsy in queen bees is something I had not previously heard of or seen any reference to, yet last year we have two known instances within our own association. This leaves me wondering if we are seeing the beginnings of yet another malady to plague our bees; time will no doubt tell. Meanwhile this coming season a close lookout for fainting queens during colony manipulations would, I am sure, be worthwhile for us all. Best Wishes for the coming season.
Dave Rennison
Footnote
Mike’s queen recovered and the colony prospered well in the rest of the season, but my queen died. R.I.P. |
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Revive a Cold Bumblebee |
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DO A GOOD DEED- RESUSCITATE A BUMBLEBEE
In the Spring it is not unusual to find a bumblebee flaked out on a windowsill, barely able to move, only able to raise one leg in self defence. It probably entered through an open window looking for food or a nesting site and has flown against the glass until exhaustion supervened. If the Bumble is particularly large, she is probably a queen, so her loss means the loss of a whole colony. Fear not, all is not lost. She has probably simply run out of fuel, like a little aeroplane, and it is well worth trying to resuscitate her.
You will need a drop of honey, syrup or jam (in that order of preference) and a card and glass or jar so that you can move her outdoors without the risk of Her Majesty stinging you.
Place a small drop of honey in front of her head and watch out for the following sequence of events;
Firstly, the antennae move around, noting the scent of sugary salvation. Then the tongue comes out and sucks up the droplet. If she finishes one drop, give her another. After several minutes (up to 20 mins) she will start to walk about and then suddenly fly, usually straight back to the window! This is the time to put the jar over her then slide the card between the jar and window pane. Then you will have her safely contained and though she won't thank you for it, you can now take her outdoors and release her.
Now you can bask in the warm glow, having done your good deed for the day.
Bumblebees, of all species, are in decline and we owe it to these useful and beautiful creatures to help, particularly as we unwittingly set traps for them, ie. windows, which must kill many thousands every year. Joe Dod Harrogate and Ripon Beekeepers
PS You often find water-carrying honeybees in the same state- outside of course, so they are probably chilled as well. Warm them up and feed them, and it is amazing how quickly they revive! (Ed.) |
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