Online Course – Instrumental Queen Insemination (in Spanish)

01 · THE COURSE DOES NOT INCLUDE KIT

And that is the first sum to do

What you buy here is the training. The insemination device, the binocular microscope, the CO₂ circuit and the capillaries are all separate, and together they cost a good deal more than the course: it is worth looking at the whole before deciding.

Which is why this order makes sense. Three hours of video cost far less than a bench fully equipped, and let you see in detail what the technique involves — and whether you really want to take it up — before spending on hardware.

02 · THREE HOURS OF VIDEO, IN SPANISH

Four blocks, from the bench to reintroduction

The programme was developed by Apinov, the French beekeeping research and training centre, and translated and adapted into Spanish. The course is delivered in Spanish, and is followed from a computer, tablet or phone at your own pace.

The four blocks are: anatomy of queen and drone plus the conditions for success; preparing and disinfecting the equipment, including setting up the binocular microscope; collecting drones, eversion and semen extraction; and the insemination itself, with the CO₂ circuit, placing the capillary and returning the queen to her nucleus.

03 · IT CERTIFIES THAT YOU DID IT

The skill comes afterwards, with repetitions

At the end there is an assessment questionnaire and a certificate of completion is issued: it attests that you finished the training. It is not a licence and it does not replace practice.

That is worth saying plainly because it sets the expectation: the video shows the correct movement and the mistakes that make an insemination fail, but the hand is trained by inserting capillaries. There is also a forum for putting questions to the trainers.

04 · WHO IT MAKES SENSE FOR

Queen breeders rather than honey producers

It fits someone already raising their own queens who wants to control the paternal genetics too: selecting for temper, for yield or for hygienic behaviour against varroa, and fixing that line instead of losing it on every flight.

For anyone who buys queens ready-made or raises half a dozen a year, the full investment — course plus equipment — is hard to justify. The course still serves, though, to understand what you are buying when you buy an inseminated queen.

05 · BEFORE YOU BUY

Online training, not equipment.