QUEEN CONFINEMENT, QUEEN PIPING AND SWARMING IN APIS MELLIFERA COLONIES

1. 1. Congestion of adult bees in the hive, or simply large numbers of adult bees, encouraged colonies to confine young queens in their cells; congestion was at least the more important of these two factors. Depriving colonies of their flying bees increased their tendency to destroy queen cells. 2. 2. Cells from which colonies had allowed queens to emerge freely had most of the wax on their sides and tips, and the loose fibres on their tips, removed by the workers, whereas cells in which queens had been confined had little of their wax and fibres removed. Confined queens took as much as 30 hr to cut round their cappings and up to 4 days to emerge; they were fed while, as well as after, they cut their cappings. 3. 3. Colonies that confined queens in their cells all had one or more queens that piped, but many colonies with caged queens had no piping, particularly a group of colonies that had previously hatched uncaged queen cells. Caged queens that piped mostly began when 1 or 2 days old and continued for 2 to 7 days. 4. 4. Swarming when queenless colonies reared queens was always preceded by piping; colonies that did not pipe did not swarm. This was true even when young queens were caged in colonies instead of being confined in their cells by workers. A colony that had eliminated all but one of its young queens without swarming swarmed when subjected to recorded piping sound. © 1969.