> I find the greatest difficulty to be drone production. No problem to inseminate queens, it's a matter of few minutes per queen.

Artificial insemination is a big advantage in the late season, when in-air mating are typically not successful, provided good quality semen is collected earlier in the season.

I've a couple of cases where, late in the seasons, virgins would disappear from nucs.  My guess is they attempted a mating flight and failed to make it to the congregatrion area (provided they still exist in some form in late season) or failed to return successfully.

I also have a theory that birds may pick off virgins more in the late season since fewer other insects are available...

Waldemar

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