Queen mating takes place in the air and outside the beekeeper's control. Mating systems are arrangements for reducing that lack of control.

How mating happens

A few days after emerging the queen flies to mate. She goes to areas where drones congregate and mates there with many drones.

She uses the sperm she receives for the rest of her life. Multiple mating gives the colony genetic diversity, which directly increases resistance to disease.

Open mating

The commonest and easiest route. The queen mates with drones from the surrounding area.

Advantage: No arrangement is needed and natural diversity is preserved.
Limit: Half the genetics is uncontrolled — a serious gap in breeding work.

Isolated mating site

Set up where no other colonies are nearby: an island, a mountain valley, a large forest interior.

Only selected drone colonies are placed there, so queens are likely to mate with those drones.

Advantage: Control increases markedly without major investment.
Limit: Not complete control, and suitable sites are hard to find.

In many countries associations operate protected mating sites.

Instrumental insemination

The only method giving full control. The queen is inseminated in the laboratory with sperm from selected drones.

Advantage: Both sides of the genetics are known.
Limit: Requires equipment, training and time; not suited to volume production.

Reducing losses

A significant share of queen loss occurs on the mating flight, and the arrangement of the boxes directly affects it:

• Face the boxes in different directions
• Use distinct colours and shapes around the entrances
• Do not set identical boxes in a row
• Make use of natural markers

Identical boxes in a row lead to a returning queen entering the wrong one and being killed.

Weather

Mating flights need suitable weather. Cool, wet spells delay them; a long delay can leave the queen laying without having mated.

Such a queen produces only drones and must be replaced.