Chapter 10 · Quiz

Chapter 10 Quiz: Growing Further

30 questions from lessons 78–87. Answer from memory first, then check the lesson if you're unsure. This quiz is for your own practice; nothing is graded.

Lesson 78: Making Splits

  1. Why must a queenless split have a frame of eggs or very young larvae?
  2. About how long before a split that raises its own queen has new workers emerging?
  3. Why add extra bees to a split that stays in the same apiary?

Lesson 79: Raising Your Own Queens

  1. What decides whether a female larva becomes a queen or a worker?
  2. What age of larva makes the best queen for grafting?
  3. Why must ripe queen cells be moved to separate nucs before they emerge?

Lesson 80: Renting Bees for Pollination

  1. Why do growers prefer strong colonies?
  2. Name three things a pollination agreement should cover.
  3. What's the most important protection for the beekeeper in a pollination agreement?

Lesson 81: Bees in Walls and Buildings

  1. Why isn't spraying insecticide into the entrance a good fix for bees in a wall?
  2. What's the difference between a swarm and an established colony, for the homeowner?
  3. In Georgia, do you need a license to collect a swarm hanging on a tree branch?

Lesson 82: Helping All Pollinators ★

  1. Where do most native bees nest?
  2. When is a good time to trim dead perennial stems, and how much should you leave?
  3. Name three causes of pollinator decline.

Lesson 83: Breeding for Mite Resistance

  1. What does a Varroa Sensitive Hygiene worker do?
  2. What result makes a colony "hygienic" in the freeze-killed brood test?
  3. Why keep doing mite counts even with resistant stock?

Lesson 84: Honey Bee Genetics Basics

  1. Why does a drone show the cordovan color with just one copy of the gene?
  2. Why do workers in one colony often behave differently from one another?
  3. Why should you judge a possible breeder colony over more than one season?

Lesson 85: Instrumental Insemination: An Overview

  1. What's the main advantage of instrumental insemination over natural mating?
  2. Why should the nuc for an II queen ideally have no eggs or young larvae?
  3. When should you release an II queen from the push-in cage?

Lesson 86: Organic and Low-Chemical Management

  1. Why do many beekeepers avoid synthetic miticides?
  2. Which three soft treatments did the Penn State organic system use?
  3. What threshold triggered treatment in that system?

Lesson 87: The Road to Master Beekeeper (State Programs)

  1. What does the entry level of most Master Beekeeper programs usually require?
  2. Name two kinds of public service that count toward higher levels.
  3. What's one of the best ways for a new beekeeper to learn, besides reading?

Answers

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Printed in the next issue, or check them now if you've finished.

  1. The bees can only raise a new queen from eggs or very young larvae.
  2. About 5–6 weeks.
  3. Older foragers fly back to the parent hive's location, so the split loses bees.
  4. Her diet: queen larvae are fed royal jelly throughout development in a queen cell, while worker larvae switch to worker jelly around day three.
  5. Less than one day old: tiny, with a slight comma shape.
  6. The first queen to emerge kills the others still in their cells.
  7. Populous colonies send more foragers into the crop, and their bees fly at cooler temperatures.
  8. Any three of: parties and location; price and payment; delivery and removal timing; number and strength of colonies; placement and access; pesticide protections; liability.
  9. A promise not to apply bee-toxic pesticides while the bees are present, or to give advance notice, with responsibility for any losses.
  10. The comb stays; after the insecticide breaks down it attracts new swarms, and unventilated honey and wax can rot, melt and stain walls.
  11. A swarm is a temporary cluster outside that will usually move on or can be collected easily; an established colony has built comb inside and won't leave without removal.
  12. No; free-hanging swarms don't require a license. Removing bees from a structure does.
  13. Most are solitary and nest in the ground; others use hollow or pithy stems or holes in wood.
  14. In their first winter, since they're not yet occupied; trimming to a 12–24-inch stubble creates nesting habitat for the following year.
  15. Any three of: habitat loss; pesticide exposure; diseases and parasites; poor nutrition or low plant diversity; climate and land-use change.
  16. It finds capped cells where mites are reproducing and removes the pupa, interrupting mite reproduction.
  17. Removing at least 95% of the frozen brood within 24 hours, in two separate tests.
  18. No stock is 100% resistant; mites can still build up and need treatment.
  19. Drones develop from unfertilized eggs and have only one set of genes, so a single recessive copy shows.
  20. The queen mated with many drones, so the colony is made of several half-sister families with different fathers.
  21. The environment (flows, dearths, season) affects how traits are expressed, so a trait needs to show consistently over time.
  22. The breeder chooses exactly which drones father the queen's offspring.
  23. So the bees can't raise their own replacement queen instead of accepting her.
  24. About 2–5 days after she starts laying under the cage, and only if the bees around the cage are calm.
  25. Mites become resistant to them relatively quickly, and their residues build up in beeswax.
  26. Formic acid, oxalic acid and thymol.
  27. More than 1% infestation (4 or more mites in a ½-cup alcohol wash), and if one colony reached it, the whole yard was treated.
  28. About a year of beekeeping experience and passing a written and practical exam.
  29. Any two of: talks or workshops for the public; club leadership; mentoring a new beekeeper; youth projects; swarm or colony removals; public demonstrations; pollinator gardens; observation hives.
  30. Joining a local club and working with an experienced mentor.

★ = a topic on the Georgia Certified Beekeeper exam list.

◀ Lesson 87