Influence of the Type of Feeding on the Egg Laying of Queen Bees

Tsvetelina Grigorova, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, Hristo Ivanov, Plamen Hristov

Abstract: The egg laying of queen bees in bee families reared in Dadant-Blat hives was studied. Three groups were formed each of them containing 6 bee families with the same strength and honey stores. The queen bees are sisters of the bee (Apis mellifera Carnica) breed. The first (T1) and second (T2) group of bee families were fed with sugar solution (1 : 1) in amounts of 250 g twice a week, as the solution for the first group contained yeast (50 g/l). The feeding was done from March until the first nectar flow in May (Period 1) and then after the main nectar flow from August until September (Period 2). The third group of families was not fed sugar solution and was considered control group (C). The effect of the type of feeding of the bee families on the egg laying of the queen bees during both periods was assessed through one way ANOVA, while the differences between the periods for the different groups was evaluated through t-test. Feeding yeast led to significant increase in the egg laying of the queen bees during both periods (Р < 0.001). Considerable increase of the number of eggs was observed during the second period of feeding for all the three examined groups (Р < 0.001).

Keywords: Key words: yeast, feeding, egg laying, bee family

Date published: 2020-06-06