This month I have split my thoughts into 3 parts.

Genetics

At February’s Zoom meeting, VP John gave us a primer on honey bee genetics. It was remarkably interesting and is available on our website. It starts 1 slide late which was the introduction. I realized how little I understand chromosome talk and decided to look a little deeper into it. As John noted, female honey bees are diploid and have 2 sets of 16 chromosomes giving them 32. Drones have but 1 set of 16 making them haploid. We, both male and female, have 2 sets of 23 chromosomes for a total of 46. We are completely diploid.

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When a queen lays an egg, she provides that cell with just 1 set of 16 chromosomes. If she allows the egg to be fertilized, then the sperm from the drone adds the 2nd set. This would likely form a female bee. I said likely and I will get to that soon. Without the addition of sperm then the egg will be a drone with just 16 chromosomes. Since our queen has 2 sets of 16 chromosomes, nearly every egg will be different genetically. She has 65,536 possible combinations at her disposal, though she can’t control that. With multiple drone mating’s then that number can climb considerably higher. Your mother with her 46 chromosomes had about 8.8 million combinations possible. When you throw in your father’s contribution you become a 1 in 70 trillion chance. Our sex determination is based on the 23rd chromosome. Your mother contributes an X and your father could contribute either an X or a Y. Two X’s and you are female, XY and you’re a male. Bees don’t have a sex chromosome; they use a gene instead. Bees have about 15,000 genes which make up the chromosomes. We have a gene for eye color and there is a word for different instructions of the same gene and that’s allele. Blue, brown, or green eyes are different alleles of the eye color gene. In bees, on the 3rd chromosome there is a sex indicator gene. Honey bees have at least 20 alleles of that gene, maybe as many as 50. Sex determination happens through a comparison of the allele from the queen and the allele contributed by the drone. If they are different, which 19 of 20 should be, then a female is created. If they are the same, then it’s a male. Since an unfertilized egg only has 1 set of chromosomes, then there is never a difference at that gene and the egg becomes a traditional haploid drone. But in the case of a fertilized egg and that 1 in 20 chance where both alleles are the same then the egg becomes a diploid male with 2 sets of chromosomes. How about that. Since those drones are useless and functionally sterile, workers cull them out soon after hatching from the egg. But, that 5% culling of diploid males shows up in your brood pattern as holes. Lab researchers can raise diploid males and even breed them with queens to produce triploid females that have some drone characteristics.

 

One of the questions that came up at our meeting was about virgin queens mating with their brothers. If she only mated with brothers that would result in eggs that were 50% diploid males, which would be cannibalized, and 50% normal females which create a very ugly shot brood pattern. That is why the drones stay close to home and she ventures further away for her mating flights. If she mated with 12 drones and 1 of those was her brother, then we would get about 9% diploid males and more of a shot brood pattern. Drone congregation areas where mating takes place likely have 10,000 drones from many colonies so the chances of encountering her brother are not high. Honey bees in Europe and Africa have higher genetic diversity and may have up to double the sex alleles of our American bees.

 

Oxalic Acid

After listening to Randy Oliver at our December meeting I thought I would like to make the Swedish sponge saturated with Oxalic acid. The method he used is an extended release of OA rather then the one time shot we give when using Vaporization (sublimation) or dribble. It involves soaking Swedish sponges in glycerin and oxalic acid, and then placing it into a hive for about 2 months. His results with this process in California last summer were, honestly, amazing and a possible game changer for our war with mites. You can watch a recording of his presentation from our website or you can go to scientificbeekeeping.com and read more.

 

I purchased from Amazon a package of Swedish cellulose sponges containing 6 sponges for $9.95. There are many suppliers and I had to assume they were all about the same. I also purchased 1 liter of vegetable glycerin for $11.95. I had enough OA crystals on hand. I was only going to make enough solution for 1 full sponge so I weighed about 2 fluid ounces of glycerin and then poured it into a stainless steel pan. Next I weighed out an equal amount of OA and added that into the pan. When working with OA you should always wear gloves and since splashing is possible, eye protection should be worn. I began warming the mixture while stirring with a wooden stick. I monitered the temperature with an infrared thermometer so I would not exceed 160 degrees. The OA was fully disolved at 140 degrees. I put 1 strip in the pan and allowed it to soak for about 4 minutes then lifted it out with tongs and draped it over a chop stick to drip dry for 5 minutes. Then I weighed the sponge and found it contained 30 grams of OA. Randy tested at 50 grams and 25 grams of OA and had similar results with both. So I am happy with this methodology. I went ahead and did the second half sponge and put them in a tupperware container. Randy told me they may began breaking down by 2 months.

 

I would like to place a fresh 30-gram strip between 2 deeps towards the end of April when I should still have low mite counts. If you would like more information you can contact me. Cost of this treatment would be less then $1.25. This is not the year-round solution to mites as more research is needed and thankfully ongoing, but If I could get away with a winter OA vapor treatment, a spring sponge insertion, then a later summer Formic Pro or Apiguard treatment and not have mite problems, I would be happy.

 

The Yard

My method for getting the stuff I need into the apiary to do inspections has always been to use hands, arms and pockets. I invariably need something I didn’t bring. So, I saw this thing, available at Home Depot called a Husky 22 inch Connect Caddy for $15. I can put quite a bit of stuff in it and keep it a little organized with the 5 compartments. I haven’t had a chance to use it yet, but I did light the smoker and then put it on the plastic bottom. Bad news, I use horse bedding pellets for fuel and the bottom of my smoker gets to 175 degrees, which started melting the plastic. I could test burlap but since I like how long the pellets burn without going out, I won’t stop using them. I think the caddy will still be handy as long as I keep a hot smoker away from it.

 

In the shop (my garage when vehicles are in the driveway) I completed two small projects. First, I built a trap out box which is a single deep which you can connect via a hose to an unreachable hive. It may been in a tree cavity, masonry wall, or similar. It works by allowing workers to leave their hive then transit my deep before exiting. Upon returning from the field they enter the box but can’t find the path to their old hive. The box is loaded with 4 frames of drawn foundation, so they unload their nectar or pollen and go back to foraging. After a few days when the box has accumulated nearly all the field force, I would add a frame of eggs and larvae from one of my hives which would attract nurse bees. The queen sensing foreign larvae would then come out to investigate. When that happens, my work is complete. Should take less than a week.

 

My next project was just to make 4 nuc boxes. I already had 4 but this would give me more flexibility in making splits or stacking nucs 2 high which I could overwinter with 10 frames, or even use as a swarm trap.

 

Lastly, I checked hive weights on the 24th and everybody is still in good shape. Make sure moisture is not impacting the colony. You can sometimes tell by checking that the cover is dry and not heavy. But I encourage a top entrance along with an insulated top.

 

Bill