Artificial Insemination?

[Cody Anbeachaire]

Greetings.
Long time reader, first time poster. IÂ’ve really enjoyed reading the experiences of all the beekeepers who chat here, Thanks.

Down here in Southeast Texas, the bees are unhappy. For some reason theyÂ’re all upset at the world and even on nice sunny days during a flow they can be quite aggressive. IÂ’ve had them checked for AHB, the result was negative. IÂ’ve tried different queenbreeders and still the same result.

Then one day, my fortunes changed. I met a manÂ’s bees and to my surprise, his bees were gentle. They were mated queens out of GA. So IÂ’m gettinÂ’ some.

Anyhoo,
If they work out, I would like to breed them and artificially inseminate them from the same stock. Problem is, IÂ’ve never tried AI, and IÂ’m not sure how itÂ’s done.

Would someone be so kind as to direct me to educational material or an educational institution that might be able to help me out.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers.
Cody

[george dilley]

wow if you are in south east texas what do they concider the valley up there?

[clintonbemrose]

Be prepared to spend thousands of dollars and a lot of time learning to get started in artifical insemination.

[mpjourdan]

Here’s the link from the Diseases and Pests section under topic heading “Bee and Mite video’s” to the German video on instrumental insemination.

Instrumental Insemination of Queen Bees
http://mkat.iwf.de/mms/metafiles/02000017460220000000_lo.asx

ItÂ’s a good video to get a feel for all the aspects of inseminating, but also shows how scientific the process is, and all the equipment involved. IÂ’ve always had an interest in it, and because of my working and going to school for machining I would be able to machine out a pretty good inseminator, but having the inseminator and the microscope is just part of it.

Sue Cobey will be having her 3-day workshop on inseminating coming up during the summer if your real serious about it. http://www174.pair.com/birdland/Breeding/class.html

[Cody Anbeachaire]

Thank you for your replies.
AI looks to be a bit more involved than I imagined. Not the “microscope and eyedropper” I assumed. (Okay, I knew it was more complicated than that, but you get the drift.)
Thanks for the link to OSU bee lab. I might order the instructional video first to get an idea. The equipment looks expensive and if the process is more time consuming than I imagined, it may be more self defeating to worry about my beesÂ’ disposition.
I guess I could concentrate on grafting and mating yards and hope for the best.

Speaking of which. In order to ensure abundant drones from the same stock, I guess I could introduce drone comb in and around the mating yards. IÂ’ve never worked with drone comb foundation. Are there tips I should know about to get the bees to draw out drone comb foundation?

(George in Hidalgo County, TX: I’m not quite sure I understand your question regarding the “valley”.)

Cheers,
Cody

[george dilley]

i am 350 miles south of houston if you are in south east texas what do they concider this to be down here ?

[Cody Anbeachaire]

Got me. (shrug)
You see, IÂ’m not a native Texan. I live forty miles souÂ’ by southeast of Houston. All I know is the weather man refers to our area of Texas as "Southeast Texas".

George, you must be in AHB territory, huh? Do you have difficulties in queen management or do not bother with it?

Cheers.

[george dilley]

this is my second year i have 22 hives and order queens every year to keep them gentle i plan to order 20 next month to double my hive numbers down here they say San Antonio is the gateway to south Texas

[Jon McFadden]

Hi Cody,
Don't give up on Instrumental Insemination. Spend $25 and buy Sue Cobey's video. Yes, the equipment is expensive if you buy it. Fortunately, you can make your own. We are making the Laidlaw-Goss system. The hard parts to make are available to add to your hand made parts. The only expensive part we are buying is the syringe. We are planning on buying the Harpo.
Will was going to attend Sue's class, but after ordering her video, we are confident we can do it ourselves. It just takes practice. I've been everting drones while in the bee yard.
Queen Rearing and Bee Breeding by Laidlaw and Page isn't the best book around, but it does have directions for making the Laidlaw-Goss instrument.

[divebee]

I bought Sue Cobey's video and thought it was excellent! Later bought the equipment, it's all pretty pricey, but the schley and harbo combination seems a great setup. Dont forget you will have to buy a microscope, with light and source of Co2 etc.. HBIS Sue's company has a website at www.honeybee.breeding.com (http://www.honeybee.breeding.com)

[mpjourdan]

Divebee-

So you have everything for inseminating? Have you been using it yet? Are you inseminating solely because of the treat of AHB, or is it for other reasons? Do you know if you can purchase drone sperm from good lines of bees (Minnesota Hygienic and New World Carniolans)? What kind of light do they recommend for the microscope? I have a decent stereo zoom microscope and this post has brought me back to thinking about building an inseminator, but weÂ’ll see, IÂ’ve gone through this phase before and still havenÂ’t done anything about it.

[Jon McFadden]

Divebee
I'm thinking a lighted magnifier might work instead of the pricy binocular microscope. I've been using them for years building models and circuit board work.
I plan to buy the ventral hook and the ruby mounted sting hook from Sue. Any thoughts on the extra cost for the ruby?
What did you buy for the CO2. I have a nitrogen pressure regulator that I figured on using.

[divebee]

I have yet to use the equipment, but have 2 breeder queens on order and want to give it a try hopefully later this year. Reasons =
1. Nearby countys with AHB for one reason,
2. Bringing in the beneficial aspects of these improved queen lines. Etc..
As for the magnifier versus microscope, I am thinking the magnifier may not quite do the job. I think it calls for a microscope preferrably binocular with zoom 6x to 20x. I have yet to locate sources for certified lines of Drone semen, thus considering raising drones myself by having 2 breeder queens of separate lines. I think the microscope light, obviously has to be cool due to the proximity to the queen and the best choice is probably one of the fiber optic ring lamps that connect to the microscope with the light source remotely located some distance away. But there are other options. The ruby sting hook, I'm sure its a sweet operation with that tool, and Sue recommends it so it must be the thing to use. Co2, There are several options here, welding suppliers sell C02 for welding, and have regulators etc... Also the Soda Fountains use C02 tanks, and you may buy such from a restaurant or cola supplier. Another tip, do some searching on ebay for your stereo microscope, there are all kinds at all prices but dont forget to consider the stand and light source,and will it fit with your equipment setup. You may find a reasonable deal in ebay. It would be nice if we had a group that we could swap out certified Breeding queens occasionally, or drones, etc...

[ April 13, 2006, 10:22 PM: Message edited by: divebee ]

[Jon McFadden]

Looking at Sue's video, it doesn't look like that much magnification would be routinely necessary. If it turns out my magnifier is insufficient for the job, IÂ’m not out anything.
The light I was thinking of using is one to whatever number of high intensity LEDs. No heat, just lumens!
YouÂ’re idea of a group for swapping semen is great. A couple of ads in the bee magazines would get to the interested parties, plus, Sue could pass out the group URL at her classes.

[RayMarler]

http://www.honeyrunapiaries.com/pdf/Insemination_ABJ.pdf

This is link to PDF of the Laidlaw-Goss instrument that was published in the ABJ and is the instrument that Sue Cobey uses and promotes. This is the instructions to make it.

[adamf]

Performing II involves managing the bees themselves as well as using an instrument:

Producing virgin queens, aging virgin queens, reintroducing virgin queens, reintroducing inseminated queens--all for the queen side. Then there's managing drones: finding the correctly aged drones yeilding good semen, caging drones, keep caged drones healthy until collection, collecting semen, storing semen...

If you want to use II practically, the II equipment is a small part of the whole process.

We had a Laidlaw-Goss instrument when we first started out. We converted to a Mackensen type instrument pretty fast.

Here's a link to more II equipment info:
http://vshbreeders.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=89

Good Luck,
Adam Finkelstein
www.vpqueenbees.com