Effect of colony strength, queen cell cups spacing on the graft acceptance and consumption of sugar syrup on quality rearing queens in Apis mellifera

An experiment was conducted at CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya Bee Research Station, Nagrota Bagwan. Apis mellifera L. colonies of different strength viz. 4, 8, 10, 12 bee frames covered with bees and a queen-right colony on 12 bee frames using modified Doolittle method of queen rearing was assessed (Morse 1994). Colonies covering 12 frames finished 45.56% of the grafted cups, followed by 31.11, 22.22 and 15.55% by colonies on 10, 8 and 4 frames, respectively. Per cent finished cells were higher in cell cups distanced at 1.5 cm than of 2 cm. Queen-right colonies did not readily accept the grafts. The weight of the queens reared by different colonies varied from 168.00 mg to 181.66 mg, averaged to 173.39 mg. The same colony may be used both as starter as well as finisher colony. Up to 57% of the given cells were got finished by a colony on 12 bee frames congested with 2200 bees per frame and without subsequent management of nurse bees. Up to 9.22 litre of sugar syrup (60%) was consumed as supplementary feeding by a colony on 12 frames during rearing of queen cells.