Online Course – Instrumental Queen Insemination (in Spanish)

We've all had that one queen. The one that fills frames with compact, uniform brood, keeps the hive docile even in the middle of a rapeseed bloom, and produces honey tirelessly. You watch her and think, "if all my bees had these genetics, my apiary would be unstoppable."

But then comes the mating flight, and everything is left to chance. Your virgin queen flies out and mates with drones of unknown lineages, diluting the potential you've so carefully tried to select. The frustration of seeing good genetics lost is something every beekeeper striving for excellence knows well.

What if you could decide the future of your apiary? What if you could cross that exceptional queen with drones from your most productive or varroa-resistant hive?

From beekeeping to bee genetics: a step within your reach

The time has come to stop relying on luck. At La Tienda del Apicultor, in exclusive collaboration with Apinov, the prestigious French research and training center, we bring you the Online Course on Artificial Insemination of Queen Bees.

This is not a simple guide; it is a direct transfer of knowledge from Europe's beekeeping elite to your home. We have translated and adapted a training program developed over 15 years by true masters of the subject, so you can master one of the most powerful and transformative techniques in modern beekeeping, at your own pace and without leaving your workshop.

What exactly will you learn to do?

Over 3 hours of interactive, high-definition video content, we will guide you step by step, as if you were right there with us in the lab:

• You will set up your own workstation: We will teach you how to turn a corner of your home into a precision laboratory. From assembling the insemination equipment to the millimeter-perfect adjustment of the binocular microscope so you don't miss a detail. You will learn why hygiene and disinfection are not an option, but the cornerstone of success.

• You will select and prepare the main characters: You will discover the techniques for collecting the best drones, the other half of your future genetics. We will show you the eversion process and semen collection with a delicacy and precision that will surprise you, ensuring maximum viability for fertilization.

• You will master the art of insemination: This is the key moment. Through complete demonstrations, you will see with absolute clarity how to handle the capillary, how to position the queen without causing her stress thanks to the controlled use of CO₂, and how to perform the insemination safely and effectively. And most importantly: you will learn how to successfully reintroduce that newly inseminated queen into her nucleus, ready to start building a colony with the genetics that you have designed.

Guided by true experts

Behind this training are not amateurs. It's the Apinov team, led by figures such as:

• Dr. Benjamin Poirot: Son and grandson of beekeepers, with a PhD in Biochemistry and an expert trainer in genetic selection and insemination. A man who combines apiary tradition with scientific forefront.

• Dr. Robin Azémar: PhD in Process Engineering and head of the Apinov apiary, he brings technical and scientific rigor to the management and improvement of the hives.

They have poured their experience into this course so that you can skip years of trial and error.

Your roadmap to mastering insemination

The program is designed to take you from zero to one hundred in a logical and intuitive way:

INTRODUCTION

• 0.1. Introduction (2 min)

• 0.2. Anatomy of the queen and drone (10 min)

• 0.3. Conditions for success and situations of failure (8 min)

MODULE 1: Preparation of the laboratory and equipment

• 1.1. Cleaning the workstation (10 min)

• 1.2. Presentation and assembly of insemination equipment (30 min)

• 1.3. Disinfection of the equipment (10 min)

• 1.4. Adjustment of the binocular microscope (10 min)

MODULE 2: Collection of males and extraction of semen

• 2.1. Drone collection (10 min)

• 2.2. Eversion of drones (10 min)

• 2.3. Semen extraction procedure (20 min)

MODULE 3: Insemination and reintroduction of queens

• 3.1. Complete demonstration of the insemination act (15 min)

• 3.2. Preparation of the CO2 circuit (5 min)

• 3.3. Positioning the queen for insemination (15 min)

• 3.4. Placing the capillary and inseminating the queen (10 min)

• 3.5. Reintroduction of the inseminated queen (10 min)

• 3.6. Knowledge assessment questionnaire.

Course specifications and target audience

This learning journey is designed for both the hobbyist beekeeper with high aspirations who wants to take their queen rearing to the next level, and the professional beekeeper looking to optimize their apiary, reduce aggression, improve production, and create resistant lineages adapted to their environment.

The training has a total duration of 3 hours, accessible from your computer, tablet, or smartphone through an intuitive online platform. Upon completion, you will pass an assessment questionnaire and receive a certificate of completion that accredits the knowledge acquired. You will also have access to a forum to discuss questions with instructors and other colleagues.

Take the step that separates a bee-keeper from a queen-breeder. Take control.