Scientific Beekeeping

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Beekeeping Through the Eyes of a Biologist

The scientific beekeeper doesn’t want to just be told how to do it, but to understand the reasons why. Scientific beekeeping is not about test tubes and lab coats, but rather about helping you, as a beekeeper, to make management decisions based upon knowledge and understanding of the biology and behavior of the fascinating superorganism we call the honey bee colony.

Colony Demography

April 28, 2015


Age class distribution of workers over the year

Seasonal demographics of a colony headed by a vigorous young queen, shed wintered in Manitoba.  Each band of color represents the proportion of bees in each 12-day age class at any time point.  Red (0-12 days of age) through green (61-72 days) age cohorts represent short-lived “summer bees,” which rarely live longer than two months.  The blue and violet age classes are the long-lived “winter” (diutinus) bees that hold down the fort when there is no incoming pollen (and thus little recruitment).  The dotted line represents the number of cells of brood.  The numbers along the x axis represent the average age of all bees in the hive at any time point.

 

 


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