# CNN report - Multiple drones increase efficiency



## Barry Digman (May 21, 2003)

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/06/25/beeing.cool.ap/index.html


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## bjerm2 (Jun 9, 2004)

Thanks. Great info.
Dan


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## Branman (Aug 20, 2003)

wow, thats interesting...great find!


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## Tia (Nov 19, 2003)

Wow! Printed it out and put it in my "Bee Book." Thanks!


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## BWrangler (Aug 14, 2002)

Greetings Everyone,

The same conclusions have been reached when comparing other behaviors of honeybees as well. Hives headed by open mated queens almost always perform better on all counts that AI ed bees. The AI folks mix sperm from more than one drone to achieve diversity within a uniform population.

Bees go to great lengths in their mating behavior to maintain genetic diversity. The idea that a mongrel bee or hive is somehow inferior to a 'pure' one doesn't match honeybee biology. In fact the opposite occurs.

This is where biobeekeeping is so powerful. Rather than trying to manage the bee against their nature, the biobeekeeper works with the bees natural behavior. 

Working against the bees behavior is like trying to swim upstream. It can be done for awhile, but let the effort cease for a moment and everything heads back the other way. 

Bee breeders have found this out the hard way. A bee selected for one criteria, like length, color, or cell size can be quickly lost in just a couple of generations due to outcrossing. A life time of work can be lost in a season. And the bees will go back to what they were before man's intervention.

Regards
Dennis
Thinking about mongrels vs purity and all that entails with genetic controlled bee behavior


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## GaSteve (Apr 28, 2004)

That is interesting, but actually the cynical conspiracy theorist in me says that CNN (and the Associated Press) only released that report as a way to discreetly push for more support for affirmative action programs to make us more "diverse". Obviously if diversity benefits bees, it must benefit us -- right? - regardless of what context the word is used in? Ah, but that's a topic for another forum.


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