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queen breeding in screened enclosure

6K views 14 replies 10 participants last post by  sqkcrk 
#1 ·
Has anyone ever tried to breed virgin queens in an enclosed area with a large number of drones? I see online that someone has a patent for a small containment chamber and a queen holder that allows her to hang in a secured fashion. Just wondering if this has ever worked.
 
#4 ·
I have sen a video of a queen mating. it involved tethering the queen so she could only fly so far and a camera on a swivel so it followed her as she flew in a circle. How many queens they went through to get the shot or how many attempts it took I have no idea. I don't for a second think it is a method that could be used for queen breeding or rearing.

I have seen comments in other sources that says no attempt at inclosed breeding has been successful.
 
#6 ·
About 15 yr ago Southwest research in San Antonio did a test using a netted enclosure about 30 ft high and maybe 50x75 ft .The breeder nucs were set inside around the edge.I cant remember sucess rate but I belive some got bred.I cant rember the details but I think this was done for the Weavers.Maybe if Danny reads this he can fill in some about it.
 
#8 ·
A picture that comes to mind for me. no idea if it would work but it could be huge, and not necessarily as expensive as you might think.

poles like telephone poles with cables strung between them. these cables for the network to hold something like agribond over a field and would even drape it to the ground.

Even if this only held up for a couple of weeks you could get a lot of queens mated with a lot of control over the drone population.

Agribond is the first thing that came to mind because I use it when growing tobacco. I am not sure what other types of netting or ?? are available that are similar. air will pass through agribond but a net would be better to withstand wind.

Anyway just imagining how you could get a huge enclosure. 60 to 100 feet high and say cover an acre or more. I know entire tobacco fields are commonly covered with Agribond or similar cloths.

Edit, oops remove the d from agribond if you are searching for it. most photos you will find have it laying on the ground. here it is being used as an enclosure.
Plant Botany Tree Plantation Soil
Greenhouse Net Grass Land lot Farm
 
#12 ·
I am not sure II woudl be cheaper if you look at it from a cost per queen angle. You could mate thousands of queens even tens of thousands in a large enough enclosure.
 
#13 ·
They don't have anything scheduled at the Superdome from Dec. 22 to the 30th. anyone tight with the onwers? maybe we can set some hives in their for a couple of days and see what happens.

For those that tend to get confused, Tight means bros, cuz, friend, buddy, companion or that other guy at the bar. He's the one that when you get arrested. Is setting next to you:)
 
#14 ·
Problem is, I don't know if one can artificially create a drone congregation area. If one simply saturates The Dome or a large airplane hanger w/ drones and releases virgin queens, will they get mated? That would be interesting.

And then, once the rental bill is paid, could anyone afford to buy those queens?
 
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