Comparative influences of hive architecture in Apis mellifera fitness.

Comparative influences of hive architecture in Apis mellifera fitness.

Summary

The intention of this project is to determine if hive architecture plays a role in honeybee fitness. This fitness of the colony will be assessed primarily by weight and pest load, and two types of hives will be compared; the topbar hive and the Langstroth hive.

The actual study will begin in late April or early May of 2013 depending on the delivery of the honeybees. The project is currently on target, for our start date as outlined in our proposal, with honeybees recently placed on order.

Objectives/Performance Targets

A pilot study has been running in 2012, and based on this study, there will be some slight modification to the project. Our graduate student ran into difficulty of weighing the hives with the original scale lever, and this has caused us to formulate a better way of accomplishing this regular interval measure of fitness. We have been working with Al Carl our advisor, an engineer, and Dr. Jeff Pettis, Research Leader USDA-ARS Bee Research Laboratory, to resolve this problem. We are playing with a new scale design and may get one on loan from the USDA Bee Research Laboratory, in the spring.

Accomplishments/Milestones

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

N/A

Collaborators: