Hello All
 
Peter Hutton wrote
 
>HOW will you get the co-operation of your fellow beekeepers to
>partake if you are relying on open mating rather than instrumental
>insemination??
 
When reading 'A Manual of Beekeeping' by E.B. Wedmore, I came across the
following paragraphs.
 
Hopefully this may go some way to answering the question. I will try it this
year. Wedmore is usually considered reliable.
 
'176. Provided there are potent drones living in the colony from which the
mating flight takes place, there is a high probability (some say 95 in 100)
that the queen will mate with one of those drones. Never, therefore, let a
queen fly for mating from a colony having drones of undesirable parentage.
Either destroy all such drones and advanced drone brood before inserting a
queen cell, shaking in some recently emerged drones of desirable origin.
 
If this critical matter does not receive attention there is no knowing with
what kind of drone the queen will mate, but if it does receive attention,
the large majority of queens will be mated as desired. The method is more
sure than any attempt to flood your district with selected drones, unless
your location is exceptionally isolated from neighbouring apiaries and wild
stocks.'
 
 
Sincerely
 
Tom Barrett
49 South Park
Foxrock
Dublin 18
Ireland
 
Hobbyist beekeeper
 
e mail [log in to unmask]
Tel + 353 1 289 5269
Fax + 353 1 289 9940
 
Latitude  53 Degrees 16' North
Longitude  6 Degrees  9' West of Greenwich