The Engorgement of Swarming Worker Honeybees

Abstract

The weight and sugar concentration of the food load in the honey stomach of worker honeybees were measured. The food load of workers in swarms 4 hours after issuing weighed 4 times as much as that of workers in colonies not preparing to swarm. All workers in a swarm were not equally engorged, and different engorgement did not appear to be responsible for colony segregation at the time of swarm issuance. Worker engorgement occurred gradually during the 10 days prior to swarm issuance. Its measurement may therefore serve as method of swarm prediction.