Artificial queen rearing

[iann41]

Hypothetically, is it possible to artificially raise queens without the assistance of the bees themselves?

I'm talking the whole process from egg to fully mated and laying queen without the use of worker bees.

I can only see the queen cells being a problem, unless queens require ultra fresh royal jelly.

If it is possible, then can queens be raised any time of year, say November/December.

I'm presuming that the beekeeper had all the equipment to raise queens artificially.

 

[For want of a better word]

Test tube babies spring to mind!

Yeghes da

 

[iann41]

yeh test tube babies

has any one tried glass to raise queen larva?

 

[Finman]

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What is the idea in your idea?

If the beehive is a Queen factory, why you want to make another factory!


Classical question: When God is all mighty, can he invent so big stone that he cannot lift it?
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[Finman]

yeh test tube babies

has any one tried glass to raise queen larva?

Every beekeeper has. IT is easy.

 

[For want of a better word]

.
What is the idea in your idea?

If the beehive is a Queen factory, why you want to make another factory!


Classical question: When God is all mighty, can he invent so big stone that he cannot lift it?
.

.
.

Archimedes — ‘Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world. .....

Nos da

 

[iann41]

my thinking is, if a breeder of queens can get the jump on the competition by having mated queens early in the season then they would have an advantage.

also, just like most things, just for the hell of it.

 

[fatshark]

You can rear bees from eggs to adult emerged workers in the lab relatively easily ...

... if you're willing to feed them 2-3 times a day, clean them, provide a £10k incubator to keep them warm and snug in etc.

 

[B+.]

also, just like most things, just for the hell of it.

Even if it were possible, it isn't really practical.
Drone semen will keep at room temperature for up to two weeks. After that, you'd be dependent on the cryo-preservation method Hivemaker opened this thread with. However, this technology is in it's infancy. It is not easy to do unless you have access to a lab with all the facilities necessary. That makes it prohibitively expensive for most people. It is meant as a research tool or for use within a breeding programme. So, applying it to an idea like this (idle curiosity) would be ridiculous.

 

[Finman]

my thinking is, if a breeder of queens can get the jump on the competition by having mated queens early in the season then they would have an advantage.

also, just like most things, just for the hell of it.

You can buy them even now. Buy from New Zealand.

Or keep spare hives...

 

[Finman]

You can rear bees from eggs to adult emerged workers in the lab relatively easily ...

..

Good job to unemployment! What you need is lab and little bit money.
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[Beefriendly]

. After that, you'd be dependent on the cryo-preservation method Hivemaker opened this thread with. However, this technology is in it's infancy. It is not easy to do unless you have access to a lab .

Cryopreservation of cells/sperm has been around for decades. Just add some DMSO and off you go. The only specialist stuff you really need is either a -70oC freezer, which will keep things for years. Or a source of liquid nitrogen to top up your liquid Nitrogen storage tank which will keep sperm/cells for decades or longer. The technique is simplicity itself and drone sperm is tough which allows you be even rougher with the treatment.

 

[B+.]

Cryopreservation of cells/sperm has been around for decades. Just add some DMSO and off you go. The only specialist stuff you really need is either a -70oC freezer, which will keep things for years. Or a source of liquid nitrogen to top up your liquid Nitrogen storage tank which will keep sperm/cells for decades or longer. The technique is simplicity itself and drone sperm is tough which allows you be even rougher with the treatment.

I meant with regard to honeybee semen, not cryo-preservation in general

 

[Beefriendly]

I meant with regard to honeybee semen, not cryo-preservation in general

Only if you regard the 1960's as being very recent?
https://academic.oup.com/jee/article-abstract/57/6/891/2207999

 

[Finman]

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Have you considered to clone queens like dolly sheep?. A cell onto petri dish and after 2 weeks your get an laying Queen.

.

 

[For want of a better word]

Cryopreservation of cells/sperm has been around for decades. Just add some DMSO and off you go. The only specialist stuff you really need is either a -70oC freezer, which will keep things for years. Or a source of liquid nitrogen to top up your liquid Nitrogen storage tank which will keep sperm/cells for decades or longer. The technique is simplicity itself and drone sperm is tough which allows you be even rougher with the treatment.

http://www.amplab.de/en-EN/beebreeding.html

If only AMP had consulted you first... would have saved them 4 years of research!

Yeghes da

 

[B+.]

Only if you regard the 1960's as being very recent?
https://academic.oup.com/jee/article-abstract/57/6/891/2207999

"Honey bee sperm are very resistant to harmful effects Of deep freezing (−79°C). After freezing and thawing of bee sperm in the seminal vesicle or spermatheca, more than half displayed a highly active movement, even with out the pretreatment of glycerol, suggesting a protective function of the sperm receptacular organs for the sperm survival."

Did I read that correctly? They froze the spermatheca?
I don't have access to the full article

I understood that previous attempts/methods were unsuccessful/unreliable. It was only within the last couple of years that they managed to do it properly. I seem to remember this from one of Sue Cobeys presentations (can't remember which one)

 

[For want of a better word]

Honey bee sperm are very resistant to harmful effects Of deep freezing (−79°C). After freezing and thawing of bee sperm in the seminal vesicle or spermatheca, more than half displayed a highly active movement, even with out the pretreatment of glycerol, suggesting a protective function of the sperm receptacular organs for the sperm survival.

Did I read that correctly? They froze the spermatheca?
I don't have access to the full article

"Hmm. We’re having trouble finding that site"..... BIDS

Presumably sperm was collected once it had migrated to the spermatheca... needing the queen to be inseminated first ? by AI ?

Not the traditional method of squeeze, wiggle and double pop as my 14 year old apprentice describes it!!

Yeghes da

 

[Finman]

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Your task was to make queens. Leave the sperm now.
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[Beefriendly]

I understood that previous attempts/methods were unsuccessful/unreliable. It was only within the last couple of years that they managed to do it properly.

You might be confusing freezing and recovery of bee sperm with the recent refined techniques producing more efficient storage with much higher viability when thawed.
As I understand it, previously frozen sperm is used for II but due to some loss of viability the queens are used for recovery of the stock DNA and aren't up to much. The trick, as Cobey says, has been to tweak the cryopreservation techniques to give a greater viability of sperm when thawed...this makes a big difference in end usage. But the principals of cryopreserving bee sperm haven't changed much from the sixties, just become more efficient.