Eggs

[Mellifera Crofter]

I've often wondered about bee eggs - do they have shells, or do the eggs just morph into larvae? Today I found close-up photos of bee eggs, and it seems to me I was half-way right. They do have shells, but the developing larvae digest the shells. If anybody else wondered about this as well, the close-ups are here: . (The article is already quite old - published in 2004.)
Kitta

I didn't see the link on posting, so here it is again: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1603/0013-8746(2004)097[0140:VITOEH]2.0.CO;2?journalCode=esaa
(http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1603/0013-8746%282004%29097[0140:VITOEH]2.0.CO;2?journalCode=esaa)

[Kitta, I've edited this to make the link clickable, using the globe icon above the text box when editing/composing. G.]

[gavin]

Hi Kitta

Fascinating question and I've had to go rooting around for the answer. As you said the paper you cited has the egg cuticle apparently dissolving in a drop of liquid and so just morphing into larvae. Advances in Insect Physiology Vol 21 by Evans and Wigglesworth says that the insect egg cuticle and egg capsules are solely composed of proteins, so I guess that explains why they will be easily digested.

cheers

G.

[Mellifera Crofter]

Thanks for amending the post, Gavin. So are the shells - cuticles- their first food?

[gavin]

That seems to be exactly the case. The larva's first intake is bee egg cuticle soup. Insects have been avid recyclers since their forebears in the Early Devonian period.

I've been Googling and apparently plants (pine trees anyway) can sense insect eggs deposited on leaf surfaces and then produce volatiles which specifically attract insect parasitoids. How neat is that?! I have a feeling that the pine needles of Aberdeenshire don't have much feeling in them at the moment!

Does your interest in eggs extend to poultry? Of the beginner and established beekeepers I've got to know in recent years, probably around 50% also keep poultry. I even thought of it myself at one time. As far as I know they (the poultry, not the beekeepers) have to hack their way out rather than dissolve their way into the waiting world.

G.

[Mellifera Crofter]

No, I don't keep chickens (or anything else that lays eggs apart from bees). I have seen at least two websites of bee keepers who also keep chickens - interesting. Maybe I'll join them one day.

[Trog]

Here's another beekeeper with hens! Had ducks, too, until the mink finished them off! As far as I know, the horse doesn't lay eggs!

[gavin]

This afternoon I managed to hack my way out of the drive and get mobile again. The effort involved was considerable, and I can definitely see the attraction of dissolving your way out of such situations. Just didn't have enough salt.

Given the fuss over Royal Jelly I wonder what the market would be like for Bee Egg Cuticle Soup? The youth-giving properties must be amazing ... but I reckon we'd need a new phrase to rival the 'Royal Jelly' tag.

yours, rather too flippantly for a serious forum, G.

[Jimbo]

Hey Gavin,

Do you think it is time for another SBA survey?
Q. How many beekeepers keep hens?
I also keep hens as well as Ben Bellamy plus Enid so I think your estimate of 50% may be too low!

[Jon]

I also have kept a hen or two in my time but haven't had any for a couple of years since a fox started taking them from the garden.
I have an uncle with a house full of trophies won by his prize Australorps and Marans.
A framed print showing the principal chicken breeds is hanging in my living room.

[gavin]

Does Ben need a lot of keeping? He seems like quite a resourceful chap to me! And I know for a fact that you don't keep Enid!

:D

A quick word with Magnus will sort the survey questions for 2011.

But seriously, you have indeed just skewed the figure to 60%.

If this was the BBKA forum I'd have my posts censored by now (oops, I keep saying that I don't want this to be a bash-the-BBKA forum), but thankfully there is no-one else around with banning privileges at the moment!

Oh dear, Kitta started this out as a very promising thread and I think that I've ruined it now ....

G.

[EmsE]

Is it bee-keepers becoming involved with keeping chickens or chicken keepers becoming bee keepers? - I lost my first 2 hens to a fox! Touch wood we haven't lost any since.

[gavin]

Good question! Another one for the next SBA survey. Oh, 65% and climbing .....

[Jimbo]

To get the thread back to bee eggs.
Reading the Metro on the train that was going nowhere this morning I noticed that Heston Blumenthal is looking for ideas for his next series on the telly.
Do you think we should mention Bee Egg Cuticle Soup to him?
We could make a fortune selling the eggs to these chefs

[Jon]

We could make a fortune selling the eggs to these chefs

Boxed in 6s or 12s rather than by the kilo of course.

[EmsE]

...and don't forget Gavin's recipes for Drone brood for the side dish.