Istrumental insemination, etc.

[wightbees]

So.. as I have a reverse osmosis system all I need to do is add the right amount of salt to the purified water and then pressure cook it and correct pH and I'm good to go. Have I got this right? Aw, and then use those filters ( links above)

 

[B+.]

I'm good to go. Have I got this right?

There's always "more than one way to skin a cat" as this thread demonstrates.
Now the hard part begins.....do you have stock worth the effort?

 

[wightbees]

Kind of B+ ... I have gone with Buckfast and have on order from Germany a line Breeder Queen . Then I will need Drones of course? Hmm lots to think about!

 

[YHP]

Indeed... I did notice that... ordered some of eBay item number:
112087376549.... expiry 2018-06... should arrive ( and be used!) before then! ( and half of the price of the ones with the 2016 expiry date.

How long would a Gamma irradiated product be sterile for.. if packaging secure?

Yeghes da

I worked in the local hospital a few years back. I autoclaved the surgical instruments with both steam and gas. The instruments were only double wrapped in paper and a cloth sheet. The expiry date was 12 months but could, in theory, be sterile for many years if left unopened.

 

[For want of a better word]

I worked in the local hospital a few years back. I autoclaved the surgical instruments with both steam and gas. The instruments were only double wrapped in paper and a cloth sheet. The expiry date was 12 months but could, in theory, be sterile for many years if left unopened.

Was the gas Ozone... lethal stuff.. probably as lethal as gamma radiation.

Wightbees... you could raise a dozen or so sister queens from your German hybrids as drone producers ie put a frame or two of drone comb in the colonies... would not matter what they mated with ( however beware that much talked about aggression trait that seems to come with out crosses in these lines of imports)
II sperm from these drones with the original queen.

Yeghes da

 

[YHP]

It was a long time ago, but I don't think it was ozone. We rarely used it, and then only on stuff that couldn't take the steam process.

 

[B+.]

Wightbees... you could raise a dozen or so sister queens from your German hybrids as drone producers ie put a frame or two of drone comb in the colonies... would not matter what they mated with ( however beware that much talked about aggression trait that seems to come with out crosses in these lines of imports)
II sperm from these drones with the original queen.

brother-sister mating isn't a good way to start a line. It would be better to get unrelated drone mothers

 

[For want of a better word]

brother-sister mating isn't a good way to start a line. It would be better to get unrelated drone mothers

B+....
I did write could.... depends on how much the Cockkerpoo queens cost £300+ a pop??
One question ( that could be equally important for breeders of non Cockkerpoo variants)...
If buying in from an established German hybrid pedigree line... how many generations of II before interbreeding becomes problematic due to the reduced gene pool... particularly if the queens are already closely related... as they possibly are, and how much hybrid vigor would there be?

Yeghes da

calmdown: Thinks I now may to find that coalskuttle helmet and hide in a dugout till the inevitable flack stops flying!)

 

[Finman]

Inbreeding depends on your, how you let it come into your yard. It comes next year, if you do not know what to do.

Just now I have 30 hives and 20 queens are sisters.
Next summer most drones are cousins.

It depends then, what kind of bad genes the queen mother had, when I decided to take larvae from that hive.

One summer I took 10 queens from one mother, and nosema dwindled that mother next spring.
.

 

[B+.]

how much the Cockkerpoo queens cost £300+ a pop??
One question ( that could be equally important for breeders of non Cockkerpoo variants)...
calmdown: Thinks I now may to find that coalskuttle helmet and hide in a dugout till the inevitable flack stops flying!)

Indeed you should. This sort of cheap shot is beneath you icanhopit. I expected much more from you than this.
Let's try to keep this civilised, shall we?

how many generations of II before interbreeding becomes problematic due to the reduced gene pool... particularly if the queens are already closely related... as they possibly are, and how much hybrid vigor would there be?

What reduced gene pool? Wightbees hasn't even talked about the queens pedigree, let alone selected drone mothers yet. It's all hypothetical.
We do seem to have got off-topic a bit.

 

[For want of a better word]

Kind of B+ ... I have gone with Buckfast and have on order from Germany a line Breeder Queen . Then I will need Drones of course? Hmm lots to think about!

So much more to consider with II than salty water!
... I used to be Snow White.. till I drifted!!

Yeghes da

 

[Hivemaker.]

This is the company I have used to buy the glass capillary tubing for making insemination tips, the tubing comes direct from Germany.

https://www.labunlimited.com/

 

[B+.]

This is the company I have used to buy the glass capillary tubing for making insemination tips

What tip-puller do you use?

 

[Hivemaker.]

What tip-puller do you use?

There are lots of various pullers available, but the one I use I made myself.

 

[For want of a better word]

There are lots of various pullers available, but the one I use I made myself.

http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/makingtips.html
http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/dropmachine.html
I found this useful... meantime I have been getting them from Peter Schley
HM I believe uses a small gas flame.
Experimenting with a microscope slide carriage at the moment to attempt to get micrometer control over the tip insertion...
Mum is 95 today and suffers a bit from Parkinsons... think I am going the same way

Yeghes da

 

[Hivemaker.]

HM I believe uses a small gas flame.

I use a puller with small electric ring and drop weight to pull the tips, but yes I have also pulled them just using a small gas flame, have even made them free hand, just holding the end of the glass capillary with one hand, a drop weight on the other end and, heating the middle with a small flame.

 

[wightbees]

I got my tips from Peter Schley but would be good to make my own, how good where the hand pulled tips HM. ?

 

[wightbees]

OfJust watched this, would this be good enough

https://youtu.be/2yKHvKCatmM

 

[B+.]

OfJust watched this, would this be good enough

https://youtu.be/2yKHvKCatmM

No. The tip has to be inserted into the queens median oviduct. sharp/broken glass would do a lot of damage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_ii8fS4Be0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kZYcz_jUGw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S77Gze_2Rwk

 

[wightbees]

On YouTube link pulling glass tube the man then cuts the glass tip. But I can't make out which end he's cutting?