Does size matter?

[kmartin]

I made up a late season nuc to hoping they would produce a queen. Until yesterday I thought it didn't work. Well, I now have 4 queens, 2 purchased, 2 produced. The latest is, by far, the largest. Based on my estimation (amatuer) of larva, she's been laying for at least 7 days.

I know that color doesn't mean much, but her mother was dark, she's golden. So my question is size. Is that a criteria that matters?. Reliably?

[Michael Bush]

The size of a given queen changes much during her life. When she's a virgin she's a little thing not much bigger than a worker. Then she mates and fattens up sometimes to twice the length and width she was. Then when they get in a dearth and stop feeding her she shrinks again. If she's banked she shrinks. It's hard to say, but all things being equal, a big queen seems to make a good long lasting queen. But things are seldom equal.

[Swobee]

...When she's a virgin she's a little thing not much bigger than a worker. Then she mates and fattens up sometimes to twice the length and width she was.

There are at least half a dozen jokes and some very true stories that could be made from that statement, but I won't go there.

I have also wondered about a queen's size at a young age. I've seen some new in cages that were dainty and some rather large, but never thought to note that in records. I think I'll add another column or two in the worksheet and see what gives over time.

[Robert Hawkins]

Eventually, I think it will but there are so many other considerations that need to bee classified that right now the answer is "No, size doesn't matter".

Or at least that's what y'all white boys keep telling me.

Hawk

[tecumseh]

well robert the only real criterion 'should be'... is she pretty? so there is another column for your record books swobee.

larger queens were always 'assumed' to have greater laying capacity which I think??? was related to the number of tubules she has functioning. both of which are hightly correlated to the age of the larvae when the girls decide she will be a queen.

[JBJ]

The initial weight of the ovaries can be indicative of the number of eggs the queens is capable of producing. The larger the ovaries the greater the number of eggs in them.

[Aspera]

What JBJ said is true but I would add that this only relates to weight in the newly emerged virgin, so what MB stated is equally correct.

[Dan Williamson]

I think some of it is genetics.... I've produced some very plump, large queens from a certain breeder queen. Yet in the same finishing colony at the same time queens from a different breeder were maybe the same length but slimmer. They both resembled their respective breeder mothers in size and appearance. They also both laid prolifically. It difficult to judge a queen by her appearance. The proof is in the pudding so to speak.

[JBJ]

Agreed, but starting with the plumpest ovaries possible with whatever genetics you are using will give the queen advantages and economic value. Remember poorly reared queens from the best stock are always inferior to supremely reared queens from average stock.

[aidah]

I believe it is said that size does count