Hi Trevor & all

> I hear this statement a lot nowadays and wonder.  With the advent of
> Instrumental Insemination, we are now in a position to be able to look at
> drones and see how much semen is evident during the collection process.
> However, how did we determine before that drones were dry?  If we
>  were not doing II then we had no way of knowing.

When I first started breeding bees I was alerted to the 'hit and miss' drone
situation (by Beo Cooper). As a result I have been 'popping' drones for more
than 20 years... I never recorded the results, but my impression is that the
decline has been smooth and relentless.

The advent of varroa in UK (1991) and the chemical treatments that go with
it coincided with an increase in the interest and practice of II. Hence the
increased reportage of drone dryness and the concluded linkage between it
and the chemicals. I personally am not so sure, I think there are two
processes going on...

The first is a short term effect caused by treatment chemicals being
administered in a short timeframe.

The second (and to my mind the more significant factor) is a general decline
of male fertility and an increase in cross gender problems that occur in
many different animals and organisms... This has been linked to release of
oestrogen mimicking hormone-like chemicals that are the breakdown products
of DDT and other chemicals that were widely used before their effects were
fully known.

Of the two, we can limit the effect of the medicating chemicals by simply
not applying them immediately before a breeding program is embarked on.

The second is not controllable, all we can do is to hope that the residual
chemicals run out before male fertility drops to a degree that it affects
the survival of animal populations on this planet.

Best Regards & 73s, Dave Cushman... G8MZY
Beekeeping and Bee Breeding Website
http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman

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