I have recently heard that the longevity of insturmentally inseminated queens is not very long, normally being two or three months.  I would be interested in hearing from those of you who have had experience with II queens.  The reason I'm asking is that I am considering taking Sue Cobey's instrumental insemination course for the purpose of being able to provide queens of known genetics to the area beekeepers around me.  Taking this course is not inexpensive, along with the required equipment.  I don't want to go through this expense and then not be able to provide a product (II queens) that don't last for at least a year in the hive.  If I do this I think I can provide queens to my local people at a reasonable cost, not the $100+ that II queens are going for now as breeder queens.  My queens would be used as production queens.

Mike    Located in southwest Alabama

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