Runny/Nervous Trait : Dominant

[Joseph Clemens]

Now that I have managed to get all my full-size hives queened with homozygous Cordovan Italian queens which have been open mated to whatever drones are populating my local DCAs (Drone Congregation Areas), I have begun examining them for the influence of these local drones.

I just finished my bi-weekly inspection (sometimes it turns into a once-monthly inspection), mostly to verify that they are headed by homozygous Cordovan Italian queens, but also to check the behavior of these colonies. The majority produce predominantly normal colored workers, and, of course, only Cordovan Italian drones, a few produce mostly Cordovan Italian offspring. Most are easily managed, showing a very calm manner, all are quite vigorous, a few of those with predominantly normal colored workers exhibit nervous, runny behavior - those I will watch closely to see if subsequent generations will continue this behavior - if so, their queens will need to be replaced. Apparently this nervous behavior is passed from the paternal line and is dominant.

[tecumseh]

mr clemens writes:
a few of those with predominantly normal colored workers exhibit nervous, runny behavior - those I will watch closely to see if subsequent generations will continue this behavior - if so, their queens will need to be replaced.

tecumseh: what you describe sounds something like the expression of gentle/aggressive behavior in european honey bees, where the aggressive behavior is dominant. I am not certain that the expression of this trait has been established as being mediallian* (sp?) but it is fairly well established that reversion to original type will occur in the f2 generation.

*if yes, then the dominate and recessive should conform to a defined ratio.

[brooksbeefarm]

tecmseh,huh, I got lost when I came to mediallian?and I can!t find my dictionary.[That!s the price you pay for being an old sprout cutter]

[Joseph Clemens]

mr clemens writes:
a few of those with predominantly normal colored workers exhibit nervous, runny behavior - those I will watch closely to see if subsequent generations will continue this behavior - if so, their queens will need to be replaced.

tecumseh: what you describe sounds something like the expression of gentle/aggressive behavior in european honey bees, where the aggressive behavior is dominant. I am not certain that the expression of this trait has been established as being mediallian* (sp?) but it is fairly well established that reversion to original type will occur in the f2 generation.

*if yes, then the dominate and recessive should conform to a defined ratio.

I think you mean Mendelian, after Gregor Mendel.

Fortunately this nervousness is not usually associated with excessive defensiveness (though it can be), but sometimes I wish they were rather more defensive (as long as they respond to smoke), than being so darn runny (sometimes a runny nuc will abscond). Of course, my main goal is to keep them all F1 (the wonderful Cordovan gene helps to identify the queens and workers that are), and that increases my odds that these runny genes won't get in there, but the chances that they are, seems almost certain once they are F2.

I hope that these rogue drones are coming from feral sources (not really, because that would be more difficult to correct), rather than a fellow beekeepers hives. I should probably make more of an effort to locate any other beekeepers in my local area - perhaps I could offer them a discount on queens - or free queens, so there would be fewer undesirable drones in my queens mating area.

[tecumseh]

mr clemens sezs:
I think you mean Mendelian, after Gregor Mendel.

tecumseh:
yep...sorry about the bad spellin' brooksbeefarm.... didn't mean to confuse.

I did reread 'the bioliogy of the honeybee-winston' and it looks like the jury is (was) still out (old copy 1987) as to whether hive defensive behavior is dominant or recessive. one source (experiement) seemed to say yes and another no.

multiple and random mating by any queen (in the real world) would likely significantly confuse the issue.

mr clemens writes:
Fortunately this nervousness is not usually associated with excessive defensiveness (though it can be), but sometimes I wish they were rather more defensive (as long as they respond to smoke), than being so darn runny (sometimes a runny nuc will abscond)

tecumseh:
interesting observation.

I am not certain (I will look) if winston even addresses runnyness.

would you agree mr clemens that runnyness would seem to be a behavior associated with intrusion into the hive? are there natural stimulus (ie non beekeeper induced) that will make a hive display runnyness?

ps... I just installed my first set of grafted cordovan cells. next set out in about 4 days. I have been watching the color shift in the workers in my ai hive... quite pretty. visually they also appear a bit larger than my darker itialian.