Eaglerock
07-24-2008, 05:16 PM
CATCH THE BUZZ
Synthetic Brood Pheromone's Day Arrives
Have you heard about the newest beekeeping tool? It's available from
Mann Lake, was developed by Pherotech, and was discovered by Tanya
Pankiw, now from Texas A&M. It's called SuperBoost, and essentially
it's a synthetic brood pheromone.
The first batch has been made essentially by hand by the Pherotech
crew because they are already selling the product and haven't got the
mechanics of manufacturing up to speed yet. But that's just a matter
of time.
What does this stuff do? It's magic, that's what it is. Brood
pheromone is one of the driving forces in a colony. Brood that needs
to be fed sends a message to the rest of the bees that food gathering
should be underway. This motivates every bee in the colony to focus on
that one activity.
Not surprisingly, increasing brood population increases the amount of
brood pheromone, only adding to the frenzy. Foragers take more trips
each day and they gather bigger loads of both pollen and nectar when
they forage. Bees normally too young to forage begin foraging too,
trying to fill the need within.
Meanwhile, this influx of food means that the queen will increase her
egg laying rate because she is fed more often because brood pheromone
regulates worker behavior in all manner of ways. Whew.
Recommendations state that this product shouldn't be applied
continuously....that is, one applicator exudes synthetic brood
pheromone for about 30 days and another shouldn't be immediately
added. However, these same recommendations state that it should be
used in early spring to build population for pollination jobs; once
before the honey flow to build the population for that activity; and
again in the fall so that there is a large population going into the
overwintering mode. They don't address the situation of what happens
when these three events run into each other every year.
I asked Tanya about all this recently while at the Entomolgoical
Society Annual Conference. Primarily, I wanted to know what happens
when an overzealous beekeeper keeps this stuff on longer than
recommended (see above). Her response was that egg laying will
outstrip normal mortality and the colony will grow, that colony growth
will continue unabated if the colony is basically healthy and there is
actually food available to forage on....and guess what - Swarming will
occur.
Field trials are ongoing right now, with thousands of these devices
already being used by beekeepers planning to pollinate almonds. They
need large colonies early in the season and this is the test. Of
course with increasing population comes the need for increasing
food...and that, too is being studied. What makes the best synthetic
food then, when everything herbal is still dormant?
Eric Mussen, Extension Apiculturist from California commented that it
will take a couple of years to run adequate field tests to see what
happens when and if and how.
For now, another tool is added to the beekeeper's box of tricks to
make bees make more money.
This message brought to you by Bee Culture, The Magazine Of American
Beekeeping www.BeeCulture.com <http://www.BeeCulture.com>
This message is copyright free and we urge you to share with anyone
who will benefit from the information.
Synthetic Brood Pheromone's Day Arrives
Have you heard about the newest beekeeping tool? It's available from
Mann Lake, was developed by Pherotech, and was discovered by Tanya
Pankiw, now from Texas A&M. It's called SuperBoost, and essentially
it's a synthetic brood pheromone.
The first batch has been made essentially by hand by the Pherotech
crew because they are already selling the product and haven't got the
mechanics of manufacturing up to speed yet. But that's just a matter
of time.
What does this stuff do? It's magic, that's what it is. Brood
pheromone is one of the driving forces in a colony. Brood that needs
to be fed sends a message to the rest of the bees that food gathering
should be underway. This motivates every bee in the colony to focus on
that one activity.
Not surprisingly, increasing brood population increases the amount of
brood pheromone, only adding to the frenzy. Foragers take more trips
each day and they gather bigger loads of both pollen and nectar when
they forage. Bees normally too young to forage begin foraging too,
trying to fill the need within.
Meanwhile, this influx of food means that the queen will increase her
egg laying rate because she is fed more often because brood pheromone
regulates worker behavior in all manner of ways. Whew.
Recommendations state that this product shouldn't be applied
continuously....that is, one applicator exudes synthetic brood
pheromone for about 30 days and another shouldn't be immediately
added. However, these same recommendations state that it should be
used in early spring to build population for pollination jobs; once
before the honey flow to build the population for that activity; and
again in the fall so that there is a large population going into the
overwintering mode. They don't address the situation of what happens
when these three events run into each other every year.
I asked Tanya about all this recently while at the Entomolgoical
Society Annual Conference. Primarily, I wanted to know what happens
when an overzealous beekeeper keeps this stuff on longer than
recommended (see above). Her response was that egg laying will
outstrip normal mortality and the colony will grow, that colony growth
will continue unabated if the colony is basically healthy and there is
actually food available to forage on....and guess what - Swarming will
occur.
Field trials are ongoing right now, with thousands of these devices
already being used by beekeepers planning to pollinate almonds. They
need large colonies early in the season and this is the test. Of
course with increasing population comes the need for increasing
food...and that, too is being studied. What makes the best synthetic
food then, when everything herbal is still dormant?
Eric Mussen, Extension Apiculturist from California commented that it
will take a couple of years to run adequate field tests to see what
happens when and if and how.
For now, another tool is added to the beekeeper's box of tricks to
make bees make more money.
This message brought to you by Bee Culture, The Magazine Of American
Beekeeping www.BeeCulture.com <http://www.BeeCulture.com>
This message is copyright free and we urge you to share with anyone
who will benefit from the information.