Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => REQUEENING & RAISING NEW QUEENS => Topic started by: VolunteerK9 on June 14, 2010, 02:29:59 pm
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May be a stupid question but here goes. I am planning on requeening a few of my hives this fall with russians. If she is sold as a mated queen and produces more offspring, will the drones of this now russian hives mate with queens from other hives giving me italian/russian crosses? Or do the drones pretty much just stay with the pheremones that they are used to?
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They will cross with who ever what ever is out there. They are not picky. If they stayed with the same kind, we would not have AHB or any of the crosses that we have today.
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Yeah, those drones aren't too picky!
Scott
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Ya, I can see 2 drones out there looking for some action. "Hey look at that", "Ya, I'd hit that." Just like boys.
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They will cross with any bees in a three to five mile radius.
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They will cross with any bees in a three to five mile radius.
:shock:
I have found the queens go just as far as they need too, and are not set by a programmed distance. But more from where the nearest DCA is located. I think as selected by nature over many years, where the next feral hive may be a bit of a distance away, the queen is ABLE to fly a mile or two. I seriously doubt any claim of queens flying anything close to 5 miles. Most information on drone saturation for breeding programs mentions outyards at 1/2 or 1 mile distances. This may be much more in line with how far a queen flies to mate.