Latshaw Apiaries 

Care of Instrumentally Inseminated Queens

By: Joseph S. Latshaw

The following is a summarized description of the techniques used  for the production of instrumentally inseminated breeder queens.  Many of the described techniques have been adapted from the works of others, while some are original developments brought on by necessity.  Additionally, some techniques may deviate from published techniques commonly used. 

It will be assumed that queen rearing is a skill already possessed by those interested in learning instrumental insemination, however, it cannot be emphasized enough that only the highest quality queens should be used for such work.  There is clearly a distinction to be made between queen producers and queen breeders.  The later of the two, queen breeders, should be dedicated to producing the highest quality queens.  Such a title entails additional input for each step of the process, starting with queen rearing. 

Cell building colonies should be given ample amounts of young bees and plenty of feeding to ensure a large population of nurse bees with all necessary nutritional requirements.  Commercially, it is common practice to produce 100 plus cells per cell builder or finisher.  However, it has been clearly demonstrated that a smaller number of higher quality cells can be obtained from the same colony, resulting in a smaller number of higher quality queens.

Once sealed queen cells are obtained, cells should be individually caged and placed in a bank or nursery colony until the queens emerge.  This process involves placing cells in individual cages supplied with a small four millimeter ball of queen candy, preferably made from honey and confectioners sugar if being used within your own apiary.  The preferred queen cage is the California Mini cage developed by C.F. Koehnen and Sons from California.  The Mini Cage is approximately ¾” square by 2’’ in length and covered on one side with queen cage mesh.  In one end, an enlarged hole of 5/8” will receive the sealed queen cell.  There are several desirable attributes concerning the Mini Cage that make it especially suitable for such work; small overall size allows for 60 cages to be stored in a single bank frame, small mesh size prevents chewing of the queen’s tarsi by aggressive workers, and such cages are readily available and relatively inexpensive.

Prior to caging out queen cells as it is termed a queen bank or nursery colony must be established.  This colony consists of a single deep brood box with a frame of honey on each outside wall and four frames of brood in the center.  This generally provides enough bees and space to care for 2-3 bank frames of queens provided there are plenty of young nurse bees present to care for the queens.  On a weekly basis, each queen bank is inspected and restocked, by examining each frame for the presence of emergency queen cells, which are to be removed.  During this time, remove the two emptiest frames of emerging brood and replace them with two frames of eggs and new larvae.  The young brood stimulates the nurse bees to produce food for the queens and also the brood pheromones help to stabilize the queen bank in the absence of a laying queen.  Additionally, young bees can be added as needed to ensure a strong supply of bees to completely cover each frame.  Such a queen bank can be maintained indefinitely with weekly inspections and manipulations.

After a queen bank has been established, an initial count of sealed queen cells is taken.  In our operation, everything runs on a weekly rotation, so cells that were grafted on the previous Sunday, will be caged the following Sunday.  Many commercial queen producers prefer to move cells on the 10^th or the 11^th day after grafting to reduce the time in the nucleus colony.  However, high quality cells are valuable and by caging them at seven days, the risk of losing cells to a rouge queen is reduced.  It is important to remember, queen cells are delicate at any age and should be handled with care and should be kept out of the colony for as short a period as possible.  This is why, an initial count is taken so that all cages can be prepared and properly labeled prior to removing the queen cells from the colony, so that once the cells are taken out of the cell builder, only a little work is required until the caged cells can be returned to the queen bank.

If the larvae used for queen rearing were 12-24 hours old, then queen cells should emerge on approximately the 12^th day after grafting.  It is generally advisable to inspect the emerging queen cells on the 13^th day to crush the queen cell after the queen has emerged.  By crushing the empty queen cell, this will prevent the queen from crawling back into the empty cell in search of food and it will allow the young queen a little additional space in the cage.

Provided the queen bank is well stocked with bees and food, the queens can remain in the bank for an extended period of time.  In times of poor foraging conditions, supplemental feeding may be required to provide plenty of pollen and honey for the nurse bees.  In addition, the supplemental feeding will result in reduced queen mortality as a well fed colony will provide better care to the virgin queens. 

Most literature commonly states the optimum age for inseminating queens is between 5-7 days of age.  Older queens can certainly be used for insemination, with equally successful results.  However, some evidence suggests that the Ph of the queen changes as she ages and provides a less receptive environment for the sperm.

Queens can be maintained in the queen bank until the day of insemination.  When the operator is ready to perform the inseminations, the queens are removed from the bank and brought to the lab.  Once the inseminator is proficient, inseminating 20 queens per hour can be achieved.  Generally enough queens are removed to supply the inseminator for one hour.  During this time, it is not necessary to feed the queens, however, care should be provided to prevent chilling.  If queens are fed prior to the insemination procedure, they will regurgitate their crop contents during the insemination when exposed to carbon dioxide gas.  It is important to note, queens should be given two treatments of carbon dioxide to stimulate the production of eggs so that the inseminated queen will develop in a manner similar to a naturally mated queen following her mating flight.  The first carbon dioxide treatment is administered during the insemination procedure and the second can be administered a minimum of 24 hours later.  Generally it is easiest to administer the second treatment while re-caging the queens, just prior to introduction.

Once the queen has been inseminated, it is an ideal time immediately following the insemination to mark and clip the queen while she is still anesthetized.  Keep in mind the tag placed on the queen’s thorax is meant as the main form of identification, however sometimes the tag can fall off.  The back up marking system is to clip the tip of one primary wing to show that the queen is the inseminated queen even if the tag is lost.  Then the queen is returned to her cage and should be fed a small drop of honey on the screen.  Once the queens have been inseminated, they can be returned to the queen bank where they can remain until it is time to introduce them to small nucleus colonies.  The first 24-48 hours are very critical for the queen as it is the time when the sperm inseminated into the reproductive tract migrate to the spermatheca.  This process requires a warm environment for the queen.

When it is time to introduce the queens, the inseminated queens can be removed from the queen bank and administered a second carbon dioxide treatment while re-caging the queens for introduction.  Queen acceptance has a great deal to do with the physiological state of the queen.  When using young inseminated queens it may be advisable to administer the second carbon dioxide treatment a couple of days prior to introduction.  Research has shown that it takes a few days for egg development to occur and the purpose of the the carbon dioxide treatment is to stimulate egg production.  A queen that is developing eggs in her ovaries will produce a different pheromone blend than a newly inseminated queen that is not developing eggs.   

Newly inseminated queens, those that have not laid any eggs should be started in small nucleus colonies with a 2-3 frames of brood and bees.  Queens should be placed in cages and allowed to remain in the nucleus colony a minimum of fives days before the bees are allowed access to the candy.  This method will extend the introduction period and in turn increase acceptance rates.  There is no need to hurry the introduction process. 

If the insemination procedure was a success, the queens should begin laying 48-96 hours after they have been released from their cage.  However, a longer period may be required for some groups, but 48-96 hours will suffice for most queens. 

Once the queen has started to lay, weekly inspections are necessary to remove any queen cells the bees have started.  It is quite common that newly inseminated queens will not cut or tear down queen cells, so it is important that the beekeeper remove any queen cells for the first few weeks.      

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Last modified: 02/29/08

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