Indeed, one of the biggest problems in queen breeding is the supply of enough drones that are well bred and of high quality.  If we have been selecting our stockand included in the selection characters is non-swarming, then the problem becomes even bigger, as well bred, non-swarming bees are not keen to raise large drone populations.  Drone quality is more important than actual numbers, this becomes very obvious when a.i. is done.  Very often the quantity of semen is small and in many cases virtually non-existant.  It is hard for any colony to raise more than about 1,000 drones of good quantity.  It should be remember at all times that drones are there to mate with virgin queens and they are produced when the colony is approaching swarming or supersedure mode.  Therefore, one way to "push" a colony to rear drones is to add sealed brood to it, as much as possible and as early as possible and to feed all the time with warm sugar/honey syrup.  The feeding of pollen patties (not substitute) is also important.  Colonies treated thus are likely to go into swarming mode early and rear a good population of quality drones at an early date.

Best regards
Roger White
Superbee Cyprus.

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