FYI, if a queen mates with a brother drone, 50% of the eggs of that union will not result in viable larvae

Now I understand that a queen mates with multipul drones on her mating flight(s). So, if a "brother" was 1 of many, why would 50% not be viable? You'd think it would be 10 or 20, maybe even a high of 30%. if she mated with a brother an 1 other mate that was a non relitive, maybe 50%. But if she mates with 1 relitive and 4 or 5 non-relitives, you think the percentage would be low of non-viable larvae.

no. it was explained in a recent article I read. the brother is a clone of the queen. Drones have no father. Such a high percentage is expected, and yet, to inbreed some traits it's done on purpose.

Remember the queen mates with 10-15 drones, and if only one is a brother, the total about would be 1/10th times 50% (or 1/20th) for 10 drones, or 1/15th times 50% (or 1/30th) for 15 drones.

Unless its a sex linked issue then it would be 25% with the problem and 50% carriors because the problems that arise from inbreeding are all recessive problems.

Carol, I would be suspect of any article that claimed a drone can be a clone of a queen. Just as when you clone anything, the sex remains the same.

I think you also have to be skeptical of just a straight mathematical interpretation of what happens. During the queen's mating flight(s) and her mating with multiple drones, she receives a total "deposit" of about 90 million sperm, of which approximately seven million are ultimately stored in her spermatheca for future use in fertilizing eggs. And it is certainly NOT clear if all these seven million are uniformly mixed, or as some entomologists have suggested they are stored (packed) away in a 'first in, last out' sort of arrangement. Only if they are "free floating" [as they are stored in the spermatheca] and thoroughly mixed would the randomness allow for the straight math approach to approximate the results mentioned previously.

Hello Bob, can you tell me if your bees are still fine in july?
I have SAD bees (Stress Accelerated Decline) in a control hive (a hive no treated with vaseline and thymol). It is a higyenic hive, no doubt, (early in the morning you can observe dead pupa at entrance, later is removed), drones larva have not many varroa (five varroas in a frozen drone frame of layens), and I have harvested 20 kg of early spring honey. But I have observed that this hive is not harvesting pollen, it is harvesting nectar, only nectar, other hives are working eucaliptus pollen.
I think that collapse is near (despite high population). I´m going to split (thymol works better in nucleos), add a pair of capped brood with nurses, and finish with this "bee inmune deficiency".

By the way, I have read that inbreeding does not produce perfect bees, the larva is eaten by the nurses bees before six days old.

BobD,
I agree with Merops, lets have a follow up; we're interested in how your hive turned out. Did you get some surplus honey from them? How 'bout an update?