Walk Away Split Isolated Colony

[Crofter]

I am mentoring a person with a single colony that is 8 or 10 miles from any other bees. No ferals here! A walk away split would result in the virgin produced mating with brother drones. Will she be a drone layer or have a percentage of her eggs fertile? I have not been able to search up a definitive answer.

[iddee]

The answer I remember reading many years ago, but can't give you the source says the bees can tell which eggs were fertilized by her brother and will remove them.

Welcome back, Crofter. Long time, no see. Glad you came back.

[Bakersdozen]

Hi Crofter!  I found this article on the subject. https://www.quora.com/How-do-bees-keep-from-in-breeding-recessive-genes-when-drones-mate-with-the-queen-bee-assuming-the-queen-bee-is-their-own-mother
It may be a case of inbreeding and genetic incompatibility.

[Crofter]

Thanks for the link; I am convinced it would not be advisable. In the situation I proposed the queen would be the mother the drones that would mate with the virgin queen from larvae from the same mother queen, so  brother and sister. I have heard of workers aborting diploid drones. Perhaps this is how they originate.

Probably in usual surroundings it would be a rare happening.

[Crofter]

Mother told me a bit about the birds and the bees a long time ago but we did not get into how complicated the bees make it!

[iddee]

My dad said he'd lend me the car, but the rest was up to me.

[Crofter]

https://www.honeybeesuite.com/what-they-didnt-teach-you-in-bee-school/

I got the above link with a search on diploid drones. The example in my opening post would be a worst case scenario.  A virgin queen produced from a grafted larvae would have the likely diversity of the different drones her mother mated with, but would be dependent on mating with her full brothers who would all have identical allelles. I dont know what percentage duds she would lay but it would probably be serious shotgun brood pattern.

[LazyBkpr]

My question would be... How do you know there are no other bees in that distance? Is he on an island?


   Dammit Wally my rum and coke exited via my nasal passage when I read your comment...  Wasnt expecting it.. but by now woud think I would have learned.

[Crofter]

It is a wooded stretch of Trans Can. highway with no open areas. I really doubt there is enough forage other than the highway right of way. Windshields will be killer on the bees.