Lesson 85: Instrumental Insemination: An Overview

How breeders control a queen's mates, and how to care for an inseminated queen if you buy one

Normally a queen mates in the air with drones from all over the area, and you have no control over the fathers (lesson 84). Instrumental insemination (II) lets a breeder choose exactly which drones father a queen's offspring. It's the key tool for serious breeding programs, especially for traits like mite resistance (lesson 83). This lesson is an overview. Most beekeepers will never inseminate a queen, but you may buy an II queen, and it helps to know how she was made and how to introduce her.

How it works (in brief)

1. Raise virgin queens from a chosen breeder queen (lesson 79).
2. Raise and collect drones from chosen drone-source colonies. Drones are caught as they return from flights, often in the late afternoon, and held in drone "banking" cages: small cages made of queen-excluder material, holding 100–150 drones each. The cages go into a queenless nuc with honey, open brood and plenty of nurse bees to care for the drones for a day or two. Drones need a lot of care or they die overnight.
3. Collect semen from the drones and inseminate the queen using a specialized instrument under a microscope.
4. Keep the inseminated queen safe while she begins to lay.

It's delicate, skilled work that takes training, practice and special equipment, and breeders spend long hours at the microscope. (Penn State even publishes advice on posture and regular breaks for people grafting and inseminating.)

Introducing an II queen

II queens are expensive and take extra time to start laying, typically several days longer than naturally mated queens. So breeders recommend a careful, controlled introduction in a small colony:

Set up a nuc (4–5 frames), one to three days ahead, ideally with a robbing screen: - 1–2 frames of mostly capped brood, at least one with emerging brood (bees chewing out); - 1–2 frames of honey and pollen; - enough young bees to cover 2–3 frames, and cover all the brood; - ideally no eggs or young larvae (so the bees can't raise their own queen). A trick: 7–10 days ahead, move brood frames above a queen excluder in a queenright colony, so the eggs hatch and larvae get too old to become queens; - only bees and brood from healthy, queenright colonies; add a feeder and pollen substitute if needed.

Then: 1. Remove any queen cells the bees build (normal when a queen is caged). 2. Put the queen in a push-in cage (lesson 46) over comb in the nuc. 3. Check every 3–5 days, removing queen cells, until she starts laying in the comb under the cage. 4. Release her 2–5 days after she starts laying, if the bees are calm around the cage. 5. If the bees are "runny" and aggressive, don't release her. Recheck for queen cells and try again in a few days. If temperament doesn't improve, move the nuc to a new spot (so older bees drift away) and add emerging brood (young, accepting bees).

A queen that's already laying when you get her is usually accepted like any mated queen, but many beekeepers still use these steps because she's valuable.

Is II for you?

• For most beekeepers: buy II breeder queens from a reputable breeder and raise daughters from them (lesson 79). You get the benefit without the equipment.
• For clubs and serious hobbyists interested in breeding for mite resistance, II training courses are offered by some universities and breeders.

What to remember

• II lets breeders choose the drones, controlling both parents; it's central to breeding programs.
• It needs virgin queens, carefully kept drones (banking cages in a queenless nurse colony), a microscope and instrument, and skill.
• II queens start laying later; introduce them in a nuc with capped/emerging brood, young bees, no young larvae, using a push-in cage; release 2–5 days after she starts laying, only if bees are calm.

Quick check

1. What's the main advantage of instrumental insemination over natural mating?
2. Why should the nuc for an II queen ideally have no eggs or young larvae?
3. When should you release an II queen from the push-in cage?

Adapted from: Penn State Extension, Honey Bee Insemination series: Pre-laying II Queen Introduction, Laying Queen Introduction (2025), Installing a Queen Using a Push-in Cage, Drone Banking Cages (2025) and Ergonomics.

Adapted from university Extension sources. Experienced Georgia beekeepers are reviewing these lessons. See something that doesn't match your experience? Tell us.