Chicken 2012's Lasius niger colony '15 (4 founding queens)
Jul 31, 2015 17:10:53 GMT
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Post by chicken2012 on Jul 31, 2015 17:10:53 GMT
So today is the big day, the nuptial flight. By the time I realized, however, most of the Lasius niger queens had dispersed, but I still managed to catch 4 of them. They are nicely tucked away in a test tube now, safe and in the dark, and so hopefully it won't be too long until I have a nice growing colony.
Now, in the wild, Lasius niger colonies are founded by just one queen, however it has been discovered that in captivity, you can start off with multiple queens. This is great because it effectively gives your colony a boost of brood to start off with, which should give your colony a better start. However, after the first workers, queens will be culled, until there is just one. You may think this is bad as brood production will drop, however the strongest, most dominant queen will be spared, thus meaning that the colony will have the greatest chance for survival. Well, that's the general idea behind starting a multi queened Lasius niger colony, but only time will tell how my colony fares!
I may update in a few days with pictures, if not, there may be a few weeks gap before the next update, though I'm sure there'll be something to talk about.
Until then, thanks for reading!
Now, in the wild, Lasius niger colonies are founded by just one queen, however it has been discovered that in captivity, you can start off with multiple queens. This is great because it effectively gives your colony a boost of brood to start off with, which should give your colony a better start. However, after the first workers, queens will be culled, until there is just one. You may think this is bad as brood production will drop, however the strongest, most dominant queen will be spared, thus meaning that the colony will have the greatest chance for survival. Well, that's the general idea behind starting a multi queened Lasius niger colony, but only time will tell how my colony fares!
I may update in a few days with pictures, if not, there may be a few weeks gap before the next update, though I'm sure there'll be something to talk about.
Until then, thanks for reading!
