Start of the cocoon count…
I could resist it after finally launching the blog last night, and like a kid at Christmas, I started to take stock of the number of cocoons I had got. I guess I was also disconcerted about the fact that the top row of seven had only averaged one cocoon per tube…
So as I started unwrapping the tubes from the shadows, squeezing and tapping away the debris that they contained, I went through 29 of the tubes (65%). Within them I counted 54 cocoons and + a further 3 possibles. Interestingly rather than having to dig away the debris, I noticed that a very, very gentle squeezing or flexing of the place where cells had been created – visible by the yellow pollen rings – often produced a very slight dried leaf-like crackling noise. I contrast to where the pollen stock or plug had been placed (which provided a solid then crumbling resistance), this appeared to a fairly sure-fire way of knowing that a cocoon was in place. Of course I was careful not to put too much pressure on the tubes.
Of course I can’t count my bees until they have emerged, but it seems that bee box work of ‘Generation 2007′ may have doubled if not tripled the number of progeny. In one tube #26, I even counted 5 cocoons! Plus 10 tubes had 3 or more little success stories. Other things I noted:
- Where cocoons were present, a brown colour seemed pushed up against the tube.
- It was seen that most of the cocoons at the front end of the tube were often angled across the tube, and half the size of those at the back. The differentiation of the sexes may have thus logically occurred at this point. (I have learned from other sources that the male bees – distinguished by ‘cute’ white tufts between their eyes – are smaller than the females, emerging earlier in readiness for the arrival of their female counterparts – this was backed up by what I saw in 2007).
- Tube #19 which was stuck out a centimetre proud of the front, was great for photographs, but only produced one cocoon at the back – this may have been because of the parents struggling to fill in the tube (seen at the time of cell building because of my decision to place several tubes longer than the box depth).
- in #18 all of the 3 pollen cells were enveloped by a mould, the two middle ones also in #36 (although two made it to cocoons either side)
- in #10 where one out of 3 three cells survived, 3 dead larvae were found in the front cell – was this an attack of another parasitic species or were three laid in one cell – my first mystery of the year.
- in #24, 3 cells were empty/unproductive – larvae that died early, sealed without larvae or something else?
Thank goodness the bees are not aggressive, because it is going to get pretty busy around here in 5 weeks time. It should be entertaining to watch the people who come here.