


Artificial insemination, VSH selection
The use and routine of artificial insemination became absolutely indispensable in our apiary. We introduced the method according to the challenges of today’s age. All our selection efforts would be useless if we would only rely on free mating.
Therefore we do the artificial insemination of 150-200 queens annually to satisfy our own needs. These serve afterwards as the initial breeding stock every year, which we sort according to the international selection criteria and our own as well. The queens are put into MiniPlus hives after initial selection. We test and sort them in these in their first and second year.

Over the years we established partnership with several Hungarian apiaries, so they can test our bees under production circumstances as well.
One of the biggest problems of today’s beekeeping around the globe is the damage caused by Varroa destructor, therefore as an alternative solution we started to select Varroa Sensitive Hygiene (VSH) bees. We rank the breeding families according to this aspect (VSH) every year.
Considering this and cousinhood, we try to stabilise this attribute at a certain level of inbreeding.
Keeping the characteristics of different bloodlines is only possible in a closed population, so we also have to keep their genetical diversity in mind. Therefore we do genetical examinations with the most outstanding families, where the sex alleles present in the family get determined.

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First step to the selection, we have investigated the gentleness or hygienic behave

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Needle test result

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High hygiene behave in spring

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Detected the varroa mite

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Detected the varroa mite

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Detected the varroa mite

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Varroa mite infested cell removed

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Detected the varroa mite

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Remove the brood

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Female varroa mite and her offspring

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Female varroa mite and her offspring

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Prepare to the artificial insemination, flying cage

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Prepare to the artificial insemination, flying cage on the MiniPlus bee hive

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Mature drone in flying cage

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Mature drone under the microscope

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The condition of artificial insemination is the quality of the semen

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Honey bee sperm collecting

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Artificially inseminated instrument

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Queen bee is in the process of artificial insemination

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Artificially inseminated queen bee and her brood

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Ready for transport

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Mini Plus bee hive

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Artificially inseminated Pannon queen bee in Mini Plus bee hive

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Brood investigate

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Artificially inseminated queen bee and her brood

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Artificially inseminated Pannon queen bee in Mini Plus bee hive

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Artificially inseminated Pannon queen bee prepare to the transport

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Artificially inseminated Pannon queen bee in her colony