{"id":15298,"date":"2021-11-17T12:13:23","date_gmt":"2021-11-17T17:13:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wildlifepreservation.ca\/blog\/?p=15298"},"modified":"2024-08-23T09:35:46","modified_gmt":"2024-08-23T14:35:46","slug":"beyond-workers-mating-and-overwintering-bumble-bees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wildlifepreservation.ca\/fr\/blog\/beyond-workers-mating-and-overwintering-bumble-bees\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond workers: mating and overwintering bumble bees"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In WPC’s Bumble Bee Conservation Lab, we raise bumble bee colonies in captivity with queens we collect during our spring surveys. You can learn all about the conservation breeding lab and the colonies we raised this year in a previous blog ici<\/a>. We monitor these colonies throughout the summer, and into the fall. Throughout the summer colonies produce workers, but in the fall towards the end of their colony cycle, they begin to produce males and gynes (new queens).<\/p>\n

Part of our bumble bee conservation breeding program includes running mating trials in the fall. This year, mating trials were conducted for eight weeks, between August and October. So, how does it work? Each day we set up a mesh tent outdoors and inside are 4-12 pairings of bumble bees set up in individual enclosures. Each pairing consists of two males and a single gyne from different colonies. Bees are often marked with different coloured oil-based paint markers to help us identify what colony they came from and help us keep track of how old they are.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n