Artificial insemination

Since it is so difficult to control the mating behavior of bees (altitude of ten meters, more than one drone), it was necessary to develop methods of artificial insemination before it became possible to breed bees.

Bees are bred for hardiness in winter, a strong population, gentleness, weak drive to swarm, resistance to diseases and good honey production.

Seven to twelve well-fed, sexually mature drones are needed to inseminate one queen. At each ejaculation, a drop of sperm 1.7 μl in size forms, which is then drawn up into a pipette.
The five- to ten-day-old queen is put under sedation, held in place and then the sperm mixture is applied with a pipette.