Effect of Sex Allele Homo-Heterozygosity on Honeybee Colony Populations and on their Honey Production I. Favourable Development Conditions and Unrestricted Queens

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Abstract
Virgin queens were each mated to two brothers, giving three groups of queens producing offspring with different combinations of sex alleles. In all, 26 500 brood cells were individually examined to determine brood survival rates; also 7720 measurements of brood areas were made in colonies, weekly in 1977 and at 3-weekly intervals in 1978. Of 32 queens, 8 produced brood of 50% survival rate, 14, of 75% and 10, of 100%. Influence of the composition of sex alleles on the brood area was apparent 3 weeks after equalization of colony populations. Similar brood areas were found in all three groups of colonies during spring and autumn, but in summer colonies with brood of 50% and 75% survival rates produced 68% and 82%, respectively, of the brood area found in normal colonies. When queens in normal colonies laid fewer than 1000 eggs daily, those producing brood of lower survival rates were able to replace non-surviving larvae by new eggs, but this was not possible with higher laying rates. Colonies with brood of 50% and 75% survival rates had (in relation to normal colonies) 79% and 89 % of the worker population in spring. In summer normal colonies had 30 000 workers, and those with brood of 50% and 75% survival rates only 35% and 93% as many, respectively. In autumn the values were 65% and 91%. Colonies with brood of 50% and 75% survival rate produced 50% and 102%, respectively, of the 12 kg of surplus honey harvested from normal colonies. Interaction occurred between the progress of the season and the amount of brood, worker population and honey produced by the three groups of colonies.