It is possible that the regular and approved product use of Apistan has
affected the viable sperm of the drones that the queens are mating with.
Several researchers have documented that this product affects drones,
(reduced sperm counts to sterility) and with the recent evidence of
mitecide build up in wax, the affect could involve all area/local
beekeepers by affecting the drones in the DCA's. (drone congregation areas)

It is generally accepted that queens mate with 10-20 drones during their
mating flight. If these drones have been affected then is is possible that
during the queens mating she could be receiving much less viable sperm for
her mating effort than she would have received twenty years ago.
This could explain the complaints from fellow beekeepers about queen
problems.   Supersedure, disapperence, slow acceptance, etc, etc, all IMO
of poorly mated queens.
It is hard to rear queens when we are continuing to dump chemicals into our
hives in an effort to remove all mites. There are so many different systems
that claim threshold mite control that it can be confusing to new
beekeepers and oldsters alike as to what to use.


Frank Wyatt
Eden, NC

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