The National Bee Improvement Programme Guide

Participation

The Programme needs to be relevant to beekeepers’ needs and be able to achieve positive results for beekeepers in all circumstances. Bearing in mind the different conditions beekeepers are working in, different skill levels and experience, as well as variations in types of bee across the regions, finding common ground, may appear difficult.

Rather than lay down rules of what is, or is not, permitted in the scheme, it is better to allow individuals or groups to adapt and adjust the Programme to what they feel is appropriate for their circumstances. We have made just one rule for participants to adhere to and that is the rule not to use imported, or the offspring of recently imported, stock. The purpose of this rule is to reduce the biosecurity risks associated with rising levels of imports and to reduce the random hybridisation of the sub-species which makes selection and improvement more difficult.

Ultimately, we would like participants in the Programme to make their own decisions regarding what characteristics they select for, and how they achieve this. Variations in environmental conditions and in the qualities of the available stock in different regions mean that decisions regarding the running of the Programme are best made locally.

The NatBIP Guide, however, will offer suggestions of methods and techniques that have proved successful to beekeepers pursuing the improvement of their bees. This will be continually updated and added to, with feedback and suggestions from participants in the Programme, in the light of their experience.

Passive participation

To achieve the maximum number of supporters, we also welcome beekeepers who feel they cannot actively take part in the Programme but are in favour of the basic principles, that is, they favour the use of home reared bees over imports. We hope these beekeepers will show their belief in the Programme by joining BIBBA or by registering as a ‘supporter’ (see BIBBA website). As a ‘passive’ supporter, you will aim to avoid the use of imported bees and will be kept informed of progress and developments in the Programme. Occasions may arise, in the future, when you can benefit from the Programme, for example, through the purchase of locally reared queens.

Active participation

It is hoped that many beekeepers will wish to become actively involved in the Programme and join the growing movement of beekeepers who would like to see a sustainable improvement in the quality of our bees. This may be individuals working on their own, groups of like-minded beekeepers or local associations, often with useful facilities such as a ‘group apiary’. Commercial beekeepers or bee farmers will be especially welcome as they often exert a big influence in an area due to the number of colonies that they run.

The Improvement Process

Put simply, the improvement process is about increasing the frequency of favourable genes in a population and decreasing the frequency of unfavourable ones, whilst at the same time maintaining a high level of genetic diversity. The constant introduction of genes from sub-species, which evolved in quite different conditions to our own, does not help the process, ‘maladapted’ genes being of no real benefit. As Giles Fert explains (Fert, 2020, Raising Honeybee Queens), “Selection is only possible within the framework of a well-defined population – for example, within a given race, or, even better, a fairly large local population that will be disrupted as little as possible by the introduction of foreign bees”.

Assessment of Colonies using Record Cards

To help us select which queens are worth producing offspring from and which queens should be replaced, or at least removed from the ‘breeding area’, we need to assess the qualities of our colonies. An assessment of qualities can be made every time we inspect a colony during the active season and recorded on the Record Card.

Whether we are working on bee improvement as an individual, or as a group, we must decide which qualities are important to us. The fewer the qualities we wish to select, the easier it is to make progress. In this NatBIP Guide, there is an example of a record card where colonies are assessed for 5 main qualities, native appearance (to help us move away from a hybridized or mongrelised population), temperament, swarming propensity, health/brood pattern (including over-wintering) and honey production or relative honey production (that is, compared to other colonies in the same apiary).

A simple system of recording these qualities is used, which allows easy assessment and selection of our colonies.

Producing the next generation

From our completed record cards, we can choose the queen or queens to rear further queens from. Some will want to rear numerous queens from a few selected queens, others may prefer just one or two offspring from numerous queens, perhaps up to half of available stocks. It is important not to narrow the gene pool too much by using too few queens or by failing to use unrelated queens from time to time. Queens that have been selected as worthy of rearing further stock from are commonly known as ‘breeder queens’ and the key to bee improvement lies in these breeder queens, whether we are producing one or two queens from each one or numerous queens. The importance of the breeder queens is that, regardless of what their daughters mate with, the drones produced by these daughters, being from unfertilised eggs, will be directly related to our selected breeder queens, and so of good genetic quality.

Particularly in the early stages of an improvement programme, we may have little control over what drones our newly reared queens mate with. The workers produced from our newly reared queens may appear to be very hybridized, with a range of different appearances within each colony. However, the drones, produced from unfertilised eggs, will be genetically good quality and help to us to develop better stock by providing drones for the next generation of queens to mate with. By choosing ‘good’ breeder queens we can produce ‘good’ drones which, when the new queens produce full colonies in the following season, will provide a plentiful supply of drones to mate with our next batch of (unrelated) reared queens.

By repeating the process, the selection of breeder queens and producing new queens which, in turn, will produce good drones, we can gradually have a big influence on the quality of bees in our area, and we can develop a suitable local strain. This is a process that should be repeated year on year, allowing us to gradually get more consistency into our bee improvement, particularly if we are able to work with others and dominate an area to get reliable matings.

Record-keeping: the selection of local stock

The honey bee colonies in our area should be viewed as our resources for selection and improvement. We may only be responsible for a handful of those colonies so there is a great incentive to co-operate and work with other beekeepers in the area to increase our sphere of influence. By refraining from the use of imported stock we are already on the way to developing a local strain, shaped by ‘natural selection’ and also by ‘artificial selection’ or selection by the beekeeper.

The process of improvement depends on propagating the genes of the best colonies and replacing, or removing from the area, the queens of the worst colonies, thus reducing the genetic influence of these genes in the population. This process must be carried out with an awareness of the importance of maintaining genetic diversity within the population. The honey bee, with its system of the queen mating with numerous drones, is well-adapted to avoiding the problems of ‘inbreeding’ and maintaining genetic diversity.

To allow us to select the most desirable queens to rear a new generation of queens from, and to replace, or remove from the area, undesirable queens, we need to use a system of record-keeping that allows us, over time, to build up a picture of the qualities of each queen. Beekeepers are often quite used to keeping records for the general management of their colonies but perhaps less used to record-keeping for assessing the qualities of their bees. There is no single correct way to do this task and beekeepers may wish to devise their own system. The system should be quick and easy to use but provide useful and relevant data that shows, at a glance, the relative qualities of each queen.

Some may like to use one card for management and one for assessing their qualities, while others may wish to combine the two and have everything on one card. In this NatBIP Guide we have one or more examples which can be downloaded and printed out for use by participants. There will also be the option for beekeepers to modify the ‘standard’ card to suit variations that an individual, or group, may prefer.

What qualities to assess

The first thing an individual or a group must decide is what qualities to select for. The less qualities we wish to maintain or improve, the more chance we have of making progress and achieving our aim. The National Bee Improvement Programme (NatBIP) does not dictate what qualities to select or how to assess those qualities. NatBIP will make suggestions of tried and tested methods that have been shown to produce results, but individuals and groups will be free to make their own decisions. Nothing is set in stone and things can, and will, be modified over time according to beekeepers’ experience. In the system described, using the suggested record card, the following qualities are selected:

• Native appearance
• Temperament
• Swarming propensity
• Health and brood pattern (also over-wintering)
• Relative honey yield

Individuals, or groups, around the country may prefer a different set of qualities and are free to adjust accordingly. What follows are the reasons for choosing these qualities, and how we assess each colony for them.

Various systems of scoring have been tried over the years and the favourites, and easiest to use, are a 1 to 5 system (5 being the top mark) or a -2 to +2 system with 0 representing a neutral point.

The 1 to 5 system is the one described in the following text.

1. Native appearance

Most of us will be starting with randomly hybridised bees, that is bees that are a mixture of various sub-species. This is the result of over 150 years of importing bees that originated in different climatic zones around Europe. Some people view importing bees as a positive, citing genetic diversity, docility and prolificacy as welcome qualities, but the fact is that the docility cannot be maintained over succeeding generations, and bees from quite different geographical areas have a genetic make-up not suited to our particular environmental and climatic conditions.

Perhaps, more importantly, this continual mixing of the sub-species produces bees which do not breed true, making selection and improvement more difficult, and therefore making progress in improving the quality of our stock becomes slower.

To get more consistency into our improvement programmes and to speed up progress, it helps if we select within a strain or sub-species. Individuals or groups can make their own decisions about the best way forward, in this respect, but without the constant input of new genes from imported bees, and with the effect of natural and artificial selection, local populations of bees will gradually evolve to form a strain, that is a more homogenous population that is more likely to breed true.

There is a belief that the native strain, Apis mellifera mellifera, is most likely to dominate in the long term and many involved in bee improvement will actively encourage this tendency by selecting for this strain. The simplest way to do this is to this is to assess the appearance of the worker bees in a colony on a 1 to 5 scale; 5 being given for a colony whose workers are uniform and native in appearance.

Some may question whether assessing a quality on their appearance is in fact a useful and reliable method. Other techniques that can be used include ‘morphometry’ and ‘DNA analysis’. Assessment by visual appearance remains the simplest and cheapest method, and DNA analysis seems to validate its usefulness in achieving a more consistent strain of bee.

2. Temperament

A good temperament is the quality that beekeepers commonly cite as the most important quality that they want in their bees. Apart from actual ‘survival’, there is no doubt of its importance for the pleasure of beekeeping and for the safety of the public.

The temperament of a colony should be assessed at each inspection. A 1 to 5 scale works well, making assessment easy and accurate. One should ask if the colony is good or bad to work with. If good they can be given a mark of 4 or 5, depending on how good. If difficult, or unpleasant, to handle we can give them a mark of 1 or 2 depending on whether we rate them bad or very bad, or a mark of 3 if neither particularly good nor bad.

There may be considerable variation on different occasions over the season, often depending on the weather, available nectar, or the state of play regarding swarming, for example, but quite quickly a picture is built up of which colonies are pleasant to work with, or vice versa.

Breeder queens will normally be selected from those that head colonies showing exceptional docility.

3. Swarming propensity

Whilst swarming is a natural part of the bee’s life-cycle, there can be considerable variation in the propensity to swarm between different colonies, as well as variation between different sub-species. Swarming is the bees’ natural method of reproduction, a means to increasing the number of colonies, and in the wild is essential to the survival of the species. Swarming is also a risky strategy resulting in a colony headed by an old queen and one or more colonies with young queens which must successfully mate and start laying.

From the beekeeper’s point of view, a colony which swarms, apart from the associated risks to the swarm and the parent colony, will result in a great reduction in honey production. Also, in a crowded environment, swarming can be a nuisance factor with the public. For these reasons, beekeepers normally prefer bees which swarm less frequently. Although swarm cells generally produce good queens, being the result of flourishing colonies producing well-fed cells, repeated use of such cells may result in bees which tend to swarm more than the average.

Some bees tend to supersede rather than swarm. This is a process where the colony produces a replacement queen without the risks involved in swarming and is regarded by beekeepers as a favourable quality. To produce bees with a lower propensity for swarming, and perhaps a greater tendency to supersede, we can assess swarming propensity on a 1 to 5 scale. A colony is only assessed, or given a mark, if, and when, preparations for swarming are observed. Thus, if the production of queen cells, beyond the egg stage, is observed, the queen will be rated accordingly.

The usual methods of swarm control should be carried out by the beekeeper.

The marking system could be as follows:

• If swarm cells are observed, either unsealed with royal jelly, or sealed cells, a score of 2 should be given. This can be adjusted up or down (to 3 or 1) according
  to the strength of the colony and/or likely honey production. So, a strong colony perhaps with some honey production could be adjusted to 3, whilst a weak
  colony with no likely production would be rounded to 1.
• If no swarm cells are observed throughout the season, a score of 4 should be given. This can be adjusted up or down (to 5 or 3) according to the strength of
  the colony and/or likely honey production. So, a strong colony with good honey production would score 5 whilst a weaker one with little or no production would be rounded down to 3.

4. Health, brood pattern and ‘over-wintering’

Over-wintering is a once only assessment taken on the first full inspection of the year usually in April and it is a measure of the relative strength of colonies as the
spring gets going. An average strength colony would be given a mark of 3, strong or very strong 4 or 5, and weak or very weak 2 or 1. There is no definitive size, seasons will vary, it is just a comparison between colonies.

Many beekeepers like their colonies to be strong in the spring to benefit from oil-seed rape crops and other spring flows early in the season. This is a trait that could be selected for.

Health and Brood pattern are usually only assessed if something of note is spotted, for example, an extra good brood pattern with large quantities of healthy brood could be given a 4 or 5. Any health issues, of adult bee or brood could be noted and may warrant a mark of 2 or 1. For example, the presence of chalk brood may warrant giving a mark of 2 or 1.

5. Relative honey yield

We are all operating under different conditions, some areas are more productive than others and seasons vary tremendously. The best way to make ‘honey yields’
more meaningful is by converting them into ‘relative honey yields’ (RHY), that is a colony’s honey yield as compared to the apiary average. To calculate the apiary
average, we add up the yields of all the honey producing colonies and divide by the number of those colonies. An individual colony’s yield can then be divided by the apiary average. The resulting figure gives a ratio for each colony, as compared to the average.

Thus:    Relative honey yield (RHY) = Colony yield ÷ Apiary average

A figure of 2.0 would indicate the colony has produced twice the apiary average, whilst one of 0.5 would mean it has produced half of the apiary average.

Many variables affect a colony’s ability to produce a crop of honey. It may be difficult to know which are the most important factors affecting this but by converting the figures for honey production into a relative honey yield (RHY) we can show that a colony is productive, even if we do not know all the reasons why.

Good and bad colonies as resources

By keeping accurate records, we can work out which colonies, or queens, we should be using for producing more queens, or for drone production, for example, and which should be disposed of in some way. All our colonies are our assets to be used in the most suitable way, so anything of poor quality that we would not want to pass genes on to future generations can be dealt with in various ways. It could be re-queened or moved out of the ‘mating area’ for use as a honey producer or built up on a double brood box for splitting into nucs. It then becomes a useful resource for making more colonies.

Colony Record Card – NatBIP 1

How to use

This card is designed to be a multipurpose card that can be used for normal hive management as well as for bee improvement in one apiary, multiple apiaries, or in a bee improvement group.

The data collected on each card is for one colony. The summaries at the end of the season can be collated onto the Apiary Record Card (4.18) which will have one row per colony giving an overview of apiary performance and any outstanding colonies.

This card allows a consistent recording system to be set up using multiple apiaries involved in an improvement group.

The cards are designed around the desirable traits of: Native Appearance, Temperament, Swarming Propensity, Health/Brood Pattern/Over-wintering and Honey or Relative Honey Yield (RHY).

It is available in and editable format and can be adjusted or changed according to your own preference. Download here.

Instructions

Top table Box

1. Beekeeper/Group: Name of beeper and/or Group or Association
2. Queen or Colony Origin: Source or origin of Queen and/or Colony
3. Name or No. of Strain:
4. Queen Name or No.: Name/no. if breeder
5. Queen Mark/Age: Letter for year colour. Circled if marked
6. Queen description: Colour, stripes, clipped?
7. Apiary Name: Name or location of apiary
8. Hive No.: Number or ID of hive
9. Hive Type: Type of hive + Brood box system e.g. brood and half

Main Table Box:

General scales are 1 to 5 (5 being best).

The first two rows (above) are the scores brought forward from the previous year. This allows an at-a-glance reference to the colony’s history and past performance. These two rows are only relevant if the colony has the same queen as previous year or is a daughter queen from the previous year.

Over-Wintering Score 1-5 (Weak – Strong)

Relative strength in spring. 1 and 2 weaker than average; 3 is average; 4 and 5 stronger than average.

This is usually assessed on first inspection in April and is compared to either an apiary average or to your own choice of standard.

*To assess this score, the strength going into winter may need to be assessed. A nuc will probably be weaker in spring than full-size colony.

Main Table

Some columns can be assessed at each inspection, but others need only be used when appropriate.

• 2021: Date of inspection
• Insp. by: Inspected by – useful if working in a group or there are different beekeepers involved.
• Col. Size: Colony Size – In terms of bees covering frames in brood box and super e.g 0.7 + 0.3 would be bees covering ≅ 2/3 of brood box + ≅ 1/3 super, or can be expressed as no. of frames
• BIAS Amount: Brood in all stages. No. of frames with brood on both sides. One side only is 0.5. Enter the number of frames that have brood on both sides. Frames with brood on one side only mark as 0.5. (S,M or L can be used to indicate approximate amount of brood the frames).
• Native Appearance* 1-5 (Non-native -> Native) Assess on each visit. Summary is an average of last 3 assessments. This measure is assessed by looking at a sample of bees on the face of a comb, for example.
  1 - virtually no bees of native appearance
  2 – about 25% native app
  3 - about 50% native app
  4 – about 75% native app
  5 – virtually all native app.
  *Native appearance is a dark abdomen, a thin Tomenta or a light coloured stripe, with yellow, ginger or brown hairs around the thorax.A non-native bee is indicated by yellow, orange or brown band/s on the abdomen; a wide tomenta or light stripe on the abdomen (as wide as the dark part), with white or creamy hairs around the thorax. An Italian (Ligurian) influence would be lighter coloured, orangey bands on the abdomen. Carniolan (carnica) influence would give the impression of white or grey hairs. They can be dark bodied but often have a brown and very stripy abdomen, wide stripes, not narrow.
  Summary is average of last 3 assessments.
• Temperament 1-5 (Aggressive to docile) Assess at each visit. This trait can vary over the season according to conditions.
  1 – Unpleasant to work with in every way. Difficult to control with smoke. Defensive as you approach the hive/apiary. Followers as you leave.
  2 – Very excitable. Aggressive, pinging the veil a lot. Determined to sting. Needs considerable smoke control.
  3 – Lot of movement on the comb and may be a few stings without due reason.
  4 – Fairly calm but some running on the comb. A bit excitable but no direct aggression.
  5 – Very gentle and calm on comb. A pleasure to work with.Tip for assessment: Are bees pleasant or unpleasant to work with. Think 4 or 2. Then adjust up or down, as appropriate, to reach final assessment. Summary is arrived at by calculating average of the last 6 visits, which levels out variations.
• Swarming Propensity 1-5 (Swarmy –> non Swarmy) Only mark if event relating to a swarming tendency occurs, or does not occur through season. Use last assessment at end of season.
  1 – Unproductive and produces swarm cells
  2 – Small to medium honey crop and produces swarm cells
  3 – Moderate to good honey production but produces swarm cells, or unproductive but no cells.
  4 – Goes through season without swarm cells with average crop of honey
  5 – Goes through full season with no attempt to swarm. No swarm cells produced. Good honey crop.Practice usual swarm control methods.
• Health and Brood Pattern 1-5 (Poor brood pattern & health –> good brood & health) Assess brood pattern and/or observable diseases or pathogens (brood or adult bees). Identify disease if present, record action if any in notes.
  1 – Very poor brood pattern. Very slow brood build up. May be Identifiable diseases present.
  2 – Poor brood pattern. Pepper-pot brood and/or quantity &/or health
  3 – Average brood.
  4 – Above average brood
  5 – Very good brood pattern and amount + healthy
• Honey Yield- The quantity of honey should be recorded whenever any is removed from colony. This can be estimated at time of removal or mark the supers and calculate upon extraction. To estimate on removal, a BS/National super frame fully capped is about 2.75 lb If 10 frames in a super. Full National super about 28lbs. Round up or down according to how well filled each frame is. If using different size frames, weigh them to be accurate or work out own estimating system.
• Amount Fed. In this column, enter any feed given with quantity and date of feed in preferred units.
• Mite drop – Record average daily mite drop at any stage through the season

Summaries (at foot of table)

Native Appearance – Average of last 3 recordings
Temperament - Average of last 6 recordings
Swarming Propensity - Last assessment of season
Brood pattern/health - Average of any recordings
Honey yield - Total for season
Amount fed - Total for season

• RHY - Relative honey yield Allows more meaningful comparison between colonies in different apiaries. RHY = Colony Honey yield divided apiary average honey yield This is expressed as a decimal, so 1.0 = average, 2.0 is double the average yield, 0.5 is half of average yield.
• Over-wintering – Assessment in spring compared to average. 1-5 scale.
• Varroa treatment – Record treatment given, if any.

Assessment of breeding potential.

The beekeeper will have to decide what the priorities are regarding the desirable qualities. A general rule may be to only breed from queens which have exceptional temperament or some may feel strongly about working within a strain, to increase the chances of breeding true, so, for example, native appearance of the offspring may be high on the list. Or beekeepers may wish to experiment with giving priority to different characteristics.

The Apiary Summary Card (4.18)

The summaries for each colony can be forwarded to an ‘Apiary Summary’ card which has one row for each colony, so an apiary with 12 colonies in it would have 12 rows. This card is used to hold summaries of all colonies in the apiary. It makes comparison between the colonies simpler and therefore selection easier.

Photo by Roger Patterson

Queen Rearing Methods

There are so many techniques of queen rearing, and so much has been written about them, that it may seem unwise to add any more. Studying too many methods can be a source of much confusion and leave one overwhelmed and unsure of how to proceed.

Like most things in beekeeping, the best way to learn is to have a go, find out what works or does not work, and then try to refine or improve the technique over time.

Although there is an enormous array of information available on queen rearing, it is appropriate to include a few techniques that beekeepers have found work well for them, from the simplest methods to the more advanced ones.

There are a few simple rules to rearing good queens and these should be adhered to regardless of which method one uses. It is no good getting the genetics right if the queens are not well reared, as their performance may be severely impaired.

1. Careful attention should be paid to the health of the colonies being used to rear new
   queens, particularly with regard to the notifiable diseases of American Foul Brood (AFB) and European Foul Brood (EFB). Bees and equipment may be moved around in the production of queens, so it is easy to spread diseases within the apiary and between apiaries.
2. The best queens are produced by strong colonies of well-fed bees. The nurse bees are able to produce copious amounts of royal jelly and thus feed the queen larvae adequately. Rearing from poor weak colonies without adequate feeding will result in inferior queens.
3. Queens can possibly be reared from mid-April to mid-September in many areas, with probably May and June being the best times, as long as adequate food is provided.
4. A queen rearing colony should be provided fed unless the weather is fine and an abundance of nectar and pollen are available.

Splitting a colony to produce queen cells

There are numerous ways of producing queen cells with this method. One method is described below.

1. A queen has been selected as suitable to rear queens from, that is, to be used as a ‘breeder queen’.
2. In the Spring, when the brood box is nearly full of bees, add a second brood box to allow the queen access to both boxes. Raise at least one frame of brood from the original box to the middle of new second box and replace below with empty comb/foundation. This will encourage the queen to lay in both boxes. The new brood box may have empty combs or frames with foundation.
3. The bees can be fed steadily until foundation is drawn out as comb. When the bees have nearly filled both boxes with bees, they are ready to rear queen cells.
4. One brood box should be moved to new site in the apiary and spare floor, crown board and roof to be added.
5. Queen needs to be found and put in box on new site.
6. Brood box on old site should be ‘queenless’, with frames containing eggs or very young larvae. Many ‘flying’ bees from new site will return to old site which should also be fed with syrup. It may be helpful if still one or two combs of foundation to draw out.
7. Hive 1 on original site is queenless, well populated and well fed. Bees will proceed to rear quean cells on any combs with eggs or very young larvae.
8. Hive 2 will be queenright, have adequate stores (feed if necessary) and depleted of flying bees, so will be a viable unit.
9. Seven days later sealed queen cells can be utilised as one wishes.
10. For example, Hive 1 could be split into 2, 3 or 4 nucs making sure each nuc has a comb with at least one sealed queen cell, some brood and stores (feed as necessary). Nucs unlikely to swarm as relatively weak.
11. Or, cells could be harvested by carefully cutting out of combs with a craft knife. These cells could be placed in an incubator, with water for humidity, at 34.5°C. or transferred, one each to nucs, mininucs or mini+nucs.