Natural mating of instrumentally inseminated queen bees

Abstract

Summary — Virgin queens homozygous for the recessive cordovan body color gene were inseminated with semen of cordovan drones. The queens were divided into 4 groups and were treated as follows: 1), inseminated with 8 mm 3 of semen; 2), treated with CO 2 before insemination with 8 mm 3 of semen; 3), inseminated twice with 4 mm 3 of semen; and 4), treated twice with CO 2 , ie before and after insemination with 8 mm 3 of semen. Queen excluders were removed from the entrances after the last treatment. Mating nuclei were placed in the apiary with dominant black drones. The number of emerging cordovan and black workers was determined. Of the queens which were only inseminated once, 50% mated naturally; however, out of those additionally treated once with CO 2 , only 25% mated. No queen from the 2 other groups mated naturally. The ratio of wild black progeny originating from queens which also mated naturally was on average 33.4% for group 1, and 6.2% for group 2. Queens from group 1 additionally mated naturally on average with 3 drones per queen, and those from group 2 with only 1 drone per queen. Double insemination with the same total amount of semen or 2 additional CO 2 treatments prevented additional natural mating of instrumentally inseminated queens. natural mating / instrumental insemination / queen bee

The insemination of queen honeybees with diluted semen

“…Only 8 queens (20%) did not lay eggs and 3 of them died while passing queen excluders and when attempting to fly, possibly to attempt natural mating (Woyke and Jasinski, 1992). The remaining dead queens were found in the nuclei, ie 2 from Groups 1 and 2, respectively, and one from Group 3.…”

Comparison studies of instrumentally inseminated and naturally mated honey bee queens and factors affecting their performance

“…Worker bees exposed to CO 2 have reduced longevity (Austin, 1955) and change their behavior (Skowronek and Jaycox, 1974). Exposure of virgin queens to CO 2 treatments is known to inhibit queen mating flights, cause an initial weight loss and reduce or delay queen pheromone production (Harbo, 1986b;Woyke et al, 1995). Skowronek (1976) reported that two day old queens, anaesthetized with CO 2 for 10 to 30 minutes, delayed their mating flights from 9 to 25 days, compared to untreated queens which flew on the 6th day post emergence.…”

“…The inhibition of mating flights by queens inseminated at different ages, given varied CO 2 treatments was also explored by Woyke et al (1995). In a series of studies the authors demonstrated that two inseminations or two CO 2 treatments prevented mating when queens were allowed free flight.…”

“…of semen and given two CO 2 treatments two days after insemination, 14% mated naturally (Woyke et al, 2001). Of queens inseminated with one dose of 8 µL of semen and not given a second CO 2 treatment, 61% mated naturally (Woyke et al, 1995). Harbo and Szabo (1984) reported CO 2 treatments cause an initial weight loss in queens, both IIQs and NMQs, 3 to 9 days after the start of egg laying.…”

Effect of honey bee queen mating condition on worker ovary activation

“…Virgin queens are unmated, and generally do not lay eggs, but some do (Winston, 1987). However, if virgin queens are treated with CO 2 , they activate their ovaries and lay unfertilized eggs (Mackensen, 1947;Kaftanoglu and Peng, 1982;Woyke and Jasinski, 1992), which develop into males due to the haplodiploid sex determination system of honey bees. Queens can also begin to lay drones if they run out of stored sperm (Mackensen, 1947).…”