Pedigree Records

A pedigree record shows each queen's identity, her mother, the drone source she mated with and her performance over the years; it is the memory of a breeding programme. Without pedigree records you cannot tell whether a good colony is a matter of chance or a trait of the line. A simple system of numbers and record cards is enough, even in small apiaries.

What is a pedigree record and why is it needed?

To select, it is not enough to know that a colony is good; you also need to know where that quality comes from. If sister queens from the same mother all give good results, you have a valuable line. If only one is good and the others are mediocre, that colony is most likely the product of a good location or luck.

Pedigree records serve three purposes:

• Finding the right breeder: Estimating a queen's true genetic value by looking at the average of her daughters.
• Preventing inbreeding: Seeing which queens are closely related and avoiding brother-sister matings.
• Traceability: Finding the source when a problem arises with a queen that was sold or given to a split.

How do you identify a queen?

In breeding, the identity is given to the queen, not the hive. The hive number stays fixed, but the queen may move to another hive with a split, be superseded quietly or die. That is why keeping two separate numbers is best: a hive number and a queen number.

A numbered coloured disc (Opalith plate) glued to the queen's thorax, or a paint mark, lets you recognise the queen without looking at the record book. The colour itself shows the internationally accepted year colour code.

What should a queen record card contain?

Open a single card (paper or digital) for each queen. The following headings are enough for breeding:

1. Identity: Queen number, marking colour, year of birth.
2. Mother: Number of the breeder queen from which the larva was taken.
3. Father's side: Mating method (open, isolated area, instrumental insemination), place and date; if known, the queens of the drone colonies.
4. Production details: Grafting date, emergence date, date laying started.
5. Hive history: Which hive she was given to and when, splits or moves.
6. Performance: Gentleness, calmness on the comb, swarming tendency, hygienic test, varroa counts, wintering, productivity.
7. Fate: When and why she was replaced or died.

How is a honey bee pedigree written?

A honey bee pedigree differs from that of other animals because a drone has no father. A drone develops from an unfertilised egg of the queen and gets all its genes from its mother. So in the pedigree, the "father" recorded is not the individual drones but the queen or queens that produced those drones. In English-language sources this is also called the drone mother or drone-producing queen.

At isolated mating areas, the queens of the drone colonies are usually daughters of the same queen (a sister group). In the pedigree the father's side is written as, for example, "Station X, daughters of queen no. 24-003". With open mating, the father's side is noted as "open, apiary name, year"; it is clearly stated that it is unknown.

A simple pedigree line might look like this:

These two queens are sisters; but because they mated differently, their colonies may give different results. The record makes it possible to see this.

Why do sister groups matter?

Queens grafted from the same breeder on the same day form a sister group. When this group's colonies are tested in the same apiary, the group average shows the mother's genetic value far more reliably than a single colony. In professional programmes, breeder selection is largely based on these sister averages.

Why is inbreeding a problem, and how do pedigree records protect against it?

In the honey bee, sex is determined by a single gene region. A fertilised egg carrying two different copies at this region becomes a female (worker or queen). If the two copies are the same, the egg produces a sterile diploid drone larva; the workers recognise these larvae at a very young age and eat them. The result is scattered empty cells among the sealed brood: spotty (scattered) brood.

Because related queens and drones are likely to carry the same copies, always breeding from the same line in a closed, small population increases this loss. Pedigree records show which queens share a common ancestor and tell you when to bring in a line from outside.

• Use several breeders: Each year, rear queens not from just one mother but from several unrelated ones.
• Keep the mother's and father's sides separate: Choose drone colonies from lines not closely related to the breeder you take larvae from.
• Add a new line at intervals: Buying a registered queen from a reliable breeder or a regional programme refreshes the pool.

How should records be kept?

A paper hive card, a pocket notebook or a digital hive record: what matters is not the tool but consistency. At every inspection write scores under the same headings on the same scale, and always add the queen number next to the hive number. A number written on or nailed to the hive prevents mix-ups in the apiary.

In many countries beekeepers' associations and research institutions run shared record systems. In Europe, online systems in which breeders pool their test results in a common database and a breeding value is calculated for each queen are widespread. Joining such a programme also standardises your own records.