Aaron wrote
> He states that a properly mated queen will store more sperm in her spermatheca > if the queen is promptly returned to a hive environment.
I recall reading a paper by Professor Woyke from Poland on research he had carried out in Egypt I think. He showed that queens stored more sperm in the spermatheca if they were let run loose in the hive after artifical insemination as compared to being held in a cage in the hive after AI. I cannot recall how long he held the queen in the cage.
Trevor Weatherhead
AUSTRALIA