Instrumental insemination is a great aid to those who are serious bee breeders. It is used for the maintenance and improvement of bloodlines, not to produce mated queens for general honey production colonies. I have come across several people who have bought Instrumental Insemination equipment without having been on a course on how to use it. There is a lot of equipment dotted around the country that has hardly been used. For some strange reason the owners don't seem to want to sell it. There are many who seem to think it is the answer to the problems of poor queen performance that has been seen in the early years of the 21st century, but it isn't.

There are many individuals, or groups of beekeepers, who successfully use instrumental insemination as part of a bee breeding programme, but in general most of their queens are open mated.

Dave Cushman was enthusiastic about instrumental insemination and, as a practical man with a fertile mind, designed and made many instrument parts to help cut costs or improve the process, some of which can be accessed here.

The buttons below will lead you to individual pages. BIIG pages are retained for historical purposes, but the group no longer exists.

Roger Patterson.