296 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



May, 1922 



BREEDING AND REQUEENING 



Are Further Importations Necessary 



to Improve Our Stock ? Shall We 



Requeen Each Year? 



By M. C. Richter 



OUE success is 

 measured by 

 the amount 

 of brains that go 

 into our busi- 

 ness. Whatever 

 we amount to as 

 beekeepers is de- 

 pendent upon the 

 manner in which 

 we apply our mental faculties to our work. 

 As producers our chief aim is to get more 

 and more honey, and one of our big prob- 

 lems is the improvement of stock. Others 

 that engage in the live stock industry have 

 benefited more through the application of 

 the principles of scientific breeding than 

 have we as beekeepers. The reason for this 

 is quite apparent, for we have direct control 

 over the female parent only. If we were 

 only in the position where we could speak 

 of drone-rearing as we do of queen-rearing, 

 then, indeed, we would be able to make 

 rapid strides. The most we can do at the 

 present time is to assist nature in her meth- 

 ods of perpetuating the honeybee. 

 Selecting a Breeder. 



In breeding better bees we always turn 

 our efTorts (1) to the fixiti/ of type of the 

 race of bees which we wish to better. In 

 selection we must first of all jmrify the an- 

 cestry so that the inheritance thereof should 

 become more and more similar as we pro- 

 ceed. Thus, in the selection of a queen it 

 is necessary that she, and to a greater ex- 

 tent her offspring, conform to the type of the 

 race of which she is a representative (the 

 nearer she is to the upper limits of such, the 

 better). 



After fixity of type comes (2) utility or 

 the honej^-gathering powers of the offspring 

 of the breeding queen. It is impossible for 

 the queen-breeder to set a certain standard 

 for the amount of honey stored. For in- 

 stance one cannot place, say, 200 pounds of 

 surplus honey as a requirement for a breed- 

 ing colonj' on account of the variability of 

 the seasons. We can make use of compara- 

 tive results, however, and by means of care- 

 ful selection from year to year choose from 

 among the best surplus storers our breeding 

 queens. In this manner advancement is 

 brought about in standard yards by breed- 

 ing from the very few exceptional colonies. 



Prolificness, or (3) fertility, is the next 

 selective point. It should be borne in mind 

 that in selecting for utility the queen- 

 breeder should not go against fertility, and 

 also that a breeding queen may be incon- 

 spicuous as such, but may contribute much 

 to her offspring. 



The other main point is (4) viyor. Hardi- 

 ness in bees means their power to resist ad- 

 verse conditions such as severe winters and 

 the like. There are two minor points in se- 

 lection; the one, the non-swarming tendency 

 and the other, that of quiet temperament. 

 In comb-honey production white cappers and 

 non-propolizers are selective factors. The 



p u n d-package 

 man lays special 

 stress upon fer- 

 tility, and the 

 queen-breeder se- 

 lects cell-build- 

 ers. If, p e r- 

 chance, you are 

 in need of drawn 

 • comb and are 

 clever, you will not, of course, give all your 

 strong colonies so many frames of founda- 

 tion to draw out; but on the contrary would 

 soon find that, through selection, some 10% 

 or 15% of your colonies are very fine wax- 

 secreters (as much so as swarms), and that 

 it would be more profitable to let such colo- 

 nies at least start, if not complete, all your 

 foundation into comb. In like manner, the 

 most suitable colonies for comb-honey pro- 

 duction may be selected. Bees kept for the 

 purpose of pollination are selected for fer- 

 tility and vigor and possible for tongue 

 length. 



Foreign Stock. 

 It must be seen from the above that ma- 

 terial progress can be made in the breeding 

 of bees through careful, painstaking selec- 

 tion over a period of years. We have ex- 

 perimented with most of the economic races 

 of honeybees and, although these races have 

 different characteristics which might fit into 

 the environment of various beekeeping re- 

 gions, in California at least, we have reason 

 to favor the leather-colored Italian. In view 

 of the fact that importations of queens into 

 this country may bring about the introduc- 

 tion of the mite which causes the devastat- 

 ing Isle of Wight disease, the question has 

 been advanced, "Would it not be better, 

 for the present at least, to restrict, the im- 

 portation of queens into the United 

 States?" 



For three years the writer kept bees com- 

 mercially in Chile. The Italian bee had 

 been imported into that country 70 years 

 before. Owing to the crude methods of bee- 

 keeping prevalent throughout the country, 

 nature did her own selection. The hive (Fig. 

 1) of the country was small (13 x 13 x 6 

 inches). We bred from the best stock in 

 Chile and bred also from the best stock we 

 could import from the United States, and 

 we must confess that we could see no dif- 

 ference in results between the two strains 

 over a period of two years. The inhabitants 

 of the hives in Figure 2 were the very 

 bees that came from the Chilian type of 

 liive In. Figure 1. From an equivalent of 

 about six Langstroth frames of brood in 

 the latter, most of the queens were able to 

 maintain, when given a chance, 10 to 15 

 frames of brood in our standard hives. 

 Owing to the above and to the fact that 

 there were no brood diseases in Chile, a 

 bill was put before the Cliilian Congress to 

 prohibit the introduction of bees into the 

 country. 



The fixity of type of the Italian race is 



