Mating yard
Encyclopedia
A Mating Yard is a term for an apiary
which consists primarily of queen mating nuc
s and hives which raise drones.
A Queen bee
must mate in order to lay fertilized eggs, which develop into workers.
The hives in a mating yard are primarily mating nucs or drone producing hives.
Mating nucs are smaller than normal nucs, often containing non self sustaining numbers of bees.
The beekeeper will replenish the workers in a mating nuc by shaking additional bees into mating nucs when their population is running low.
By using drone foundation in the brood nest a beekeeper can produce a large drone population to saturate the Drone Congregation area with drones of a given stock.
Saturating the drone congregation area improves the odds that the queen will mate with drones of a particular lineage, but does not guarantee it.
Once a queen is mated and the beekeeper observes the laying pattern, the queen will be removed, caged and sold. The mating nuc will receive another queen cell or virgin queen and the process will repeat.
Apiary
An apiary is a place where beehives of honey bees are kept. Traditionally beekeepers paid land rent in honey for the use of small parcels. Some farmers will provide free apiary sites, because they need pollination, and farmers who need many hives often pay for them to be moved to the crops when...
which consists primarily of queen mating nuc
Nuc
Nucs, or Nucleus Colonies, are small honey bee colonies created from larger colonies. The term refers both to the smaller size box and the colony of honeybees within it....
s and hives which raise drones.
A Queen bee
Queen bee
The term queen bee is typically used to refer to an adult, mated female that lives in a honey bee colony or hive; she is usually the mother of most, if not all, the bees in the hive. The queens are developed from larvae selected by worker bees and specially fed in order to become sexually mature...
must mate in order to lay fertilized eggs, which develop into workers.
Mating nucs
A Mating Yard allows dozens of queens to mate and begin to lay.The hives in a mating yard are primarily mating nucs or drone producing hives.
Mating nucs are smaller than normal nucs, often containing non self sustaining numbers of bees.
The beekeeper will replenish the workers in a mating nuc by shaking additional bees into mating nucs when their population is running low.
Drone producing hives
Drone producing hives produce abnormally large numbers of drones.By using drone foundation in the brood nest a beekeeper can produce a large drone population to saturate the Drone Congregation area with drones of a given stock.
Saturating the drone congregation area improves the odds that the queen will mate with drones of a particular lineage, but does not guarantee it.
Open Mating
This method of mating is called "open mating."Once a queen is mated and the beekeeper observes the laying pattern, the queen will be removed, caged and sold. The mating nuc will receive another queen cell or virgin queen and the process will repeat.