We are currently doing research with imported and local stock of queens, so we are reporting from a few sources. Most beekeepers in Canada are buying their queens, and we are evaluating how they arrive here in Canada. They say the queen has a storage of sperm. They mate and fly once in their life and mate with 10 or 20 drones. They store the sperm in their body and, based on the level of sperm, they have a lasting life of laying eggs that will become workers. The workers are the ones that do the work in the hive and produce the honey.
We check if they are properly mated, if they have enough sperm to produce their progeny, if the sperm is alive or dead, and also we check if the queens are infected with disease or not. All of this gives an idea of how well the queens are to drive a hive for one or two years. This is what we do in the NBCD and very soon it will be available for any beekeepers who want to check their stock.
Right now we are collecting queens from every single province in Canada. They are local producers, and we are now licensed so we can compare how well produced and mated the queens are here in Canada.