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Queen confinement

Workers can prevent the emergence of a queen by sealing with wax the cuts made by her in the queen cell wall [1][2][3] or by pressing their head against cap of the cell [4]. This behaviour is called queen confinement or queen imprisonment. The confinement occurs during swarming when there is congestion in the nest [5]. It prevents queen fighting and allows afterswarms to be produced. During confinement the queen is fed by workers through slits in the tip of the cell [5]. There is no nepotism during feeding of the confined queens [6].

When queen cells are attended by workers emergence of queens can be delayed for more than two days by tooting sound [2][3] but see [7][8]. Duration of queen confinement is not affected by vibration signal [3].

References

  1. Huber F. (1792) Nouvelles observations sur les abeilles. Barde, Manget et Compagnie, Genève, pp. 368.
  2. Bruinsma O., Kruijt J.P., van Dusseldorp W. (1981) Delay of emergence of honey bee queens in response to tooting sounds. Proceedings of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Academie van Wetenschappen. Series C: Biological and Medical Sciences 84:381-387.
  3. Grooters H.J. (1987) Influences of queen piping and worker behaviour on the timing of emergence of honey bee queens. Insectes Sociaux 34:181–193.
  4. Fletcher D.J.C. (1978) Vibration of queen cells by worker honeybees and its relation to the issue of swarms with virgin queens. J. Apic. Res. 17:14-26.
  5. Simpson J., Cherry S.M. (1969) Queen confinement, queen piping and swarming in Apis mellifera colonies. Anim. Behav. 17:271-278.
  6. Châline N., Martin S.J., Ratnieks F.L.W. (2005) Absence of nepotism toward imprisoned young queens during swarming in the honey bee. Behavioral Ecology 16:403-409.
  7. Hansson A. (1945) Lauterzeugung und Lautauffassungsvermögen der Bienen. Opuscula Entomologica 6:1-124.
  8. Spangler H.G. (1971) Effects of recorded queen pipings and of continuous vibration on the emergence of queen honey bees. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 64:50–51.
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