> apply the heat before sperm is even produced using low enough temps to keep the stem cells alive and undamaged.

Hi all
Having spent ten years in a lab studying reproductive genomics, I assume sperm are formed in drones before they are born. In looking it up, I find:

The development of testes and spermatogenesis occur during the pupal stage of a drone. Spermatogenesis begins at the eighth day _during the pupal stage_, and spermiogenesis occurs before emergence. Sperm viability reached a maximum in ejaculates of 2-week old drones, and declined with the advancement drone age to 4±6 weeks old.

Page Jr, R. E., & Peng, C. Y. S. (2001). Aging and development in social insects with emphasis on the honey bee, Apis mellifera L. Experimental gerontology, 36(4-6), 695-711.

What the effect of heating them at any age is, I don't know but would assume it to be deleterious.

🐝

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