EFFECT OF POPULATION DENSITY AND AVAILABLE DIET ON THE RATE OF BROOD REARING BY HONEY BEES OFFERED A POLLEN SUBSTITUTE

Abstract

The amount of brood rearing and diet consumption by colonies of honey bees established with either 200, 400, or 600 g of newly-emerged bees was measured when each population was offered either 25, 50, or 100gofalactalbumin-yeastpollensubstituteperweek. Thelinearequationandr!value(coefficientof determination) for each treatment showed that the amount of available diet influenced the rate of brood rearingmorethanthepopulations,especiallywhen100gofdietweremadeavailableweekly. Yieldsof broodincreasedwithavailabledietinallthreepopulationlevels. Beesrearedthemostbroodtothe sealed stage in units populated with 400 g of bees and offered 100 g of diet.