> which has considerable data on drone fertility and sperm count within
mated
> queens.

The problem with this experiment was that a standard method of semen counts
was not used so that no valid comparison with other data by other
researchers can be accurately made.  A pity.

Also everyone seems to throw their hands up in horror when they find that
some drones do not have a lot of semen.  Think about it.  Does it logically
follow that if a drone has a smller amount of semen than another, it will
naturally follow that that semen will produce inferior offspring?

If in a breeding program you are selecting for performance, then it would
seem logical that you are looking for the drone to pass on the production
characteristics of its mother.  I would think that the quantity of semen
produced does not matter.  It is the genes in that semen that counts.

It is often fraught with danger to compare humans to bees but look at IVF
programs. The children produced in these cases that I know are often quite
brilliant.  There are cases of some problems but then there are problems
with naturally conceived children.

We say that queens mate with 7 to 15 drones (varys on who you talk to) but
why will one queen mate with say 7 and the next 15.  Does she know that she
has not collected enough semen, hence the variation in numbers?

If you can produce a drone that has a lot of semen then that is great but if
you lose performance characteristics then what have you gained?

Trevor Weatherhead
AUSTRALIA

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