At last, announced the persistent U.S. Department of Agriculture last week, there is a quick, sure method of hybridizing bees.
Chief trouble with bees as breeding material is their system of mating. Mating never takes place within the hive. Indoors, drones (males) and virgin queens ignore one another completely.
When a queen is ready to mate, she picks a sunny day and takes off from the hive in a fast, rising flight. All the drones in the neighborhood drop whatever they are doing and follow. The union is consummated high in the air, often miles from the hive. The lucky drone (who...
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