Some rearers believe size is relative to nutrition during development. I have had good queens of all sizes, but I would prefer the big girls. They are easy to find and show beginners if nothing else.

 

The larger the queen, the more ovarioles, which means more eggs per day. However, wouldn't queens shrink during the winter when the egg laying rate is small?

 

Queen size can also be different depending on what strain of bees are being used. An italian queen will mostly look rounder than a dark bee queen which looks more long and slim. It depends on the strain of bee. (except if the queen is poorly developed)

Some strains of bees have been selected to produce larger queens, but there is no data to show any advantage of having larger queens. As long as the queens are reared properly and mated properly they should lay well no matter how they look.

 

All true. Yes, they generally do shrink some during the winter as well... they bulk back up over the spring, the more they lay, the more they swell. We actually ran a small study on this a few years back... we wanted to investigate a theory that smaller queens were faster fliers and thus the only drones that could catch them to mate were the healthiest and most athletic, thus creating better foragers... the results were that it seemed to be mainly the smaller drones that could catch and grasp the queens... another of natures ways of helping strains to maintain their purity. Size does matter, as long as the queen is sized proportionally for her strain. Ultimately, you were most likely seeing the smaller queens (later build up) and larger queens (earlier build up). Sound about right for what you saw in the colonies, or is it still too early to really tell?

 

All true. Yes, they generally do shrink some during the winter as well... they bulk back up over the spring, the more they lay, the more they swell.

The abdomen swells, not the thorax. Look at the thorax when judging the size of a queen. It should be large with a slight cleft running down the middle.

 

Nutrition plays a factor in the size of the queen--1-When the bees are first feeding the larvae they have selected for a queen, the more food available, the more royal jelly by the nurse bees that is fed to the queen larvae.---2-As the season progresses,more food is coming into the colony, Thus there once again is more food to feed the queen with, thus as Russell has said, they Bulk up. Also some strains and races of bees have different sizes of queens. TK

 

Sounds about right. The ones I saw today were mostly on the larger size.

 

Large queens should have a proportionately larger spermatheca. This would allow them to store a larger volume of semen, possibly leading to better longevity. They could have more ovarioles in their ovaries too, as someone mentioned earlier. Could lead to larger populations. There are however, always exceptions to the rule.

 

the queen also shrinks in size when she is getting ready to swarm...can't fly with that big ol' body&itty bitty wings

 

No swarming going on here. None that I have heard of amongst my beekeeping buddies here in SC.