More on isolated breeding yards:

Genetically-marked virgin queen honey bees, Apis mellifera L., were located
at various distances up to 14.0 miles from an apiary stocked with geneticallymarked
drones. Some matings occurred across distances up to 10.1 miles.

Commercial queen breeders, who wish to produce stock mated to known
drone sources, should isolate their mating apiaries from other drone colonies (by
at least eight miles. In cases where such isolation cannot be obtained, all colonies
within eight miles should be requeened with the same drone-producing stock
used in the mating apiary. Obviously, too, the larger the drone population
flying from the mating apiary the less the chance of mismating.

Peer, D. F. (1957). Further studies on the mating range of the honey bee, Apis mellifera L. The Canadian Entomologist, 89(3), 108-110.

§

PLB

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html