The insemination of queen honeybees with diluted semen

Abstract - The aim of this study was to assess the possibility of queen honeybee insemination with a semen-diluent mixture and to evaluate the rate of insemination and the accuracy of stirring. Queen honeybees inseminated twice with a Hyes solution/semen mixture (1:1), given every other day at 8 μl per dose, stored as many spermatozoa in their spermatheca as those inseminated once by a classical technique. The onset and percentage of oviposition were similar to those observed in other procedures. The diluted mixture showed complete mixing of the semen collected from several drones.