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Best ratio of hives to nucs for mating

6K views 19 replies 13 participants last post by  msl 
#1 ·
Is there a standard number of full size hives to have around to fully mate queens from mating nucs? As in each full size hive supports mating 10 queens well? Or 100?
 
#13 ·
The problem with that conventional wisdom is that it isn't based in any facts...kind of like the conventional wisdom that bees don't poop in the hive....wishful thinking that supports a comforting falsehood.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/25085360?seq=1#fndtn-page_scan_tab_contents

Queens are very likely to mate in the shared flyways that queens amd drones use.
 
#6 ·
Hi, interesting topic!

I think we should deal with number of drones, rather than number of hives... we can decide to push or not push dron production, and we can decide to use many hives for drone rearing and few hives where to group several drones frames ready to emerge.

I normally think that if I need 15-20 drones to mate a single virgin queen... then I need to produce about 10 times drones. (1:200)

A full-layd drone combs (Dadant hives) is about 2500 drones each side. So, my ratio is normally 1 drone producitg hive (with full drone frame) each 25 nucs.. which is not far from the 5:100 ratio abovementioned for Langstroth colonies...

Any further comment is appreciated!
 
#8 ·
Speaking of, the ratio would probably change throughout the season right? The flying drone population would be small to begin with then build with time to some peak. Has there been any study on how well queens are mated in relation to changing drone populations?
 
#9 ·
If you boost the drone population by adding 3 drone combs each, 5 colonies will do for 100 virgin queens.

I consider producing 100 drones per queen. Now that is a lot, but I figure that about half of the drones will not be present or not up to par. That still leaves plenty of competition among the drones for the virgins, ensuring thorough matings.

The main thing I would encourage is to locate the drones right near the DCA, and place the mating nuc's in a circle about 3/4 mile away from the drones. The reason is that the queens will fly a good distance to mate, the drones do not stay out all that long. They need to go in to refuel every so often. A short flight to the DCA for the drones means good drone density for well-mated queens.
 
#11 ·
I agree about boosting drone population, but is there a max number of drone a colony can raise without affecting drone quality?
Remember that amount of semen in drones (fertility and vitality) is pre-determined at larval stage. After hatching, they only need to develope wings and thorax muscle in order to compete at the DCA, but semen is due to nutrition at larval stage.

So I guess we can boost them.. but not at libitum.

You are right, more than 50% of raised drones will be useless.

..and I also agree with the idea of placing drones close to DCA and mating nucs in a circle closeby... but, I have also tryied to mark drones from my drone colonies, and then catch them at the DCAs.. and so far I failed to bring evidence to this... do you maybe have any evidence?

Thanks in advance
 
#18 ·
I am planning on starting to raise queens for my own use to expand my hive count next year as well as cutting back on the number I have to buy. I had planned on added package hives to boost my odds in the queen yard, but it seems it may be better to add those packages to one of my other apiaries that is about 1/2 a mile away to provide the drones for the queens. The site currently has 2 hives and I planned on adding another 5 to 10 hives and a queen castle to start my own queens in. Where would the best location be for those extra hives?
 
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