Hybrid Vigor vs. Natural Vigor

[rrussell6870]

Check further back in the thread... it is explained.

[Redneck]

Mr. Russel, Explain to me why it is so necessary to have a great number of drones flying when only a few will be mating with the virgin. I have never heard anyone explain this. Thanks for your reply. I realize the quality of queens do not seem to be as good as a few years back, but I have never tried any of yours.

[slickbrightspear]

if a queen can mate with up to 20 drones each( not sure of the exact number) if you are mating 5 queens you need 100 drones and the numbers go up as you have more queens to mate. each drone only mates one time then dies.

[rrussell6870]

That's right slick... there are several reasons to flood the area with good drones...
1. To provide enough drones to successfully mate all of the queens that you wish to mate..
2. To provide enough "selected" drones to better your odds against your queens mating with local or "non-selected" drones from other hives.
3. Drones are slow flying, loud, and big... they make an easy meal for predators... so you will lose quite a few before they ever meet a queen.
4. The more available drones that are in the area, the more quickly and heavily the queens can mate... queens are also slow flying, large, and loud... the longer that they are out of the hive attempting to mate, the more likely they will end up a meal.
5. To provide as much chance of diversity as you can... the more hives that are producing drones, the more lineages that your queens can blend with.

Hope this helps!