The life-long goal of a individual drone is to find a queen honey bee with which to mate. This seemingly simple process actually requires precise rearing of queens and drones by a colony, energetically expensive mating flights to and from the hive, and enough speed and luck to catch a queen in a cloud of competing drones. When successful, these efforts lead to genetic diversity for the future colony. This short course explores honey bee mating biology, the fascinating details of what occurs between when a new queen is produced and when she starts laying eggs.

This short course includes the following lessons:

1. Sexual Maturation of Queens and Drones
2. Drone Congregation Areas
3. Honey Bee Mating Behavior
4. Post-mating Maturation

Important Information

• Software requirements: For the best user experiece use Chrome when accessing this course. Some features in this course are not be compatible with other internet browsers. 
• Lessons in this course overlap with lessons in the Master Beekeeper online course, part of the UF/IFAS Master Beekeeper Program.
• bee-Learning Short Courses are completely self-paced, although must be completed within 60 days of registering.
• You will receive a certificate of completion for this course via email after you have passed the final assessment and completed the course exit survey.
• No refunds will be granted for this course after the course has been accessed.