My objective here is to utilise the egg transfer techniques,
that are already proven, to distribute drones of known pedigree into
hives that may be being used for honey production or colonies within
a "guard ring" area. The eggs may be mailed by letter
post to distant destinations or the inserts can be utilised locally.
Such infusions of preferred drones will not guarantee
mating by that strain of drone, but will help to dilute the influence
of the drones that are occurring locally. If
apiary vicinity mating is
a feature of the bees that it is desire to propagate it may well be
useful to have suitable drones available, however I am not sure
whether 'undesirable drones' would become excited by such mating and
might thus be drawn into the chase.
Drone eggs can be laid into prepared plant pot inserts that
are positioned in full sized drone producing colonies or smaller
colonies. Even small sized mating nucs can be pressed into service, if
it has a queen that is known to be especially desirable (perhaps an
II queen). If postal transmission is envisaged it must be done at
the egg stage. If more local use is intended, the laid up inserts can
be transferred to the target hives at more or less any time after
laying, but if the eggs are allowed to hatch and be fed, they may
stand a better chance of not being eaten. If the inserts are left
until the drone brood is sealed before transfer then no resources are
taken from the target hives.
Bear in mind that the colony raising the drones may need
supplementing with freshly trapped pollen and syrup or honey feed.
Generated... August 2000,
Revised... 26 February 2002,
Revised... 03 July 2003,
