# Artificially fertilizing a drone egg



## gmcharlie (May 9, 2009)

what was the goal??


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## RayMarler (Jun 18, 2008)

gmcharlie
I suspect it was to raise queens from drone eggs in drone cells. This was at the time before Doolittle had perfected the making of wax cups and grafting into them.


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## beekuk (Dec 31, 2008)

Here is a link to a thread about the subject.

http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?290483-Fertilizing-eggs-in-drone-cells/page2


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## Juhani Lunden (Oct 3, 2013)

gmcharlie said:


> what was the goal??


Isn´t it also possible to make diploid drones so? They need to be fed. Was is Woyke?

1966. Woyke J. Knytel A. Bergandy K. 
The presence of spermatozoa in eggs as proof that drones can develop from 
inseminated eggs of the honeybee. 
J. apic. Res. 5(2): 71-78 
AA 79/1967 

1966. Woyke J. Knytel A. Bergandy K. 
Cytological proof of the origin of drones from inseminated eggs of the honey bee. 
Bul. Acad. pol. Sci. Cl. V. Ser. sci. Biol. 14(1): 65-67 
AA 463L/1967 


http://jerzy_woyke.users.sggw.pl/origpap.htm


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## Fusion_power (Jan 14, 2005)

One reason for fertilizing drone eggs is to have precise control over the drone used for a particular egg. The best I recall, this only works within 2 hours of the drone egg being laid. Put a drone comb in a colony that is ready to raise drones, 2 hours later, remove it and slice it down into strips and mount them on a cell bar. Select drones and extract semen into a pipette, then touch it to the tip of a drone egg where the sperm will enter through the micropyle and fertilize the egg. Give the eggs to a queenless colony and they will raise queens from any that are fertilized.

It is not a highly reliable way to get queens, success typically is only 20 or 30 percent.


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## Juhani Lunden (Oct 3, 2013)

Fusion_power said:


> One reason for fertilizing drone eggs is to have precise control over the drone used for a particular egg. The best I recall, this only works within 2 hours of the drone egg being laid. Put a drone comb in a colony that is ready to raise drones, 2 hours later, remove it and slice it down into strips and mount them on a cell bar. Select drones and extract semen into a pipette, then touch it to the tip of a drone egg where the sperm will enter through the micropyle and fertilize the egg. Give the eggs to a queenless colony and they will raise queens from any that are fertilized.
> 
> It is not a highly reliable way to get queens, success typically is only 20 or 30 percent.


Wau, I was slightly recalling spray method. Have you tried or seen that pipette thing working?

Isn´t it also used to make one type inbreeding, impossible in nature, egg and sperm coming from same individual? The queen must be confined and CO2 gassed to make drone eggs, then these drones are raised and used to fertilize the eggs. (Or to AI the queen, but comes hurry, may not be possible, she is too old then?) 

Woyke made diploid drones just to prove it is possible.


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## TalonRedding (Jul 19, 2013)

That is very interesting. I would like to see it done. I would have thought two hours would be too long. Unless I'm mistaken, this would be a wacky way of turning a drone's brother into his father if the egg and drone were from the same colony and laid by the same queen.


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## Kamon A. Reynolds (Apr 15, 2012)

Interesting but until someone has a breakthrough I guess I don't see any advantages or anything practical about it. Still it is a very neat concept.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>I suspect it was to raise queens from drone eggs in drone cells. 

Yes.

>This was at the time before Doolittle had perfected the making of wax cups and grafting into them. 

No. It was well after (that articale was in 1920. Doolittle's Scientific Queen Rearing was first published in 1889.

The object was to get controled genetics for the queen. If one raised all ones queens in this fashion one may not have control over the genetics of the workers (as that is related to the drones the queen mated with) but one could control both sides of the equation as far as the genetics off all the queens.


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