Breeding

I've read many different time frames of how long to keep your male with your female. I have been doing 3 days on, offer food, 3 days off. This is all well and good but what if you witness a lock, do you then remove after the lock is done and potentially offer to a different female? Or give him a rest? Or do you leave him in there for the remaining 2 days for potentially more locks?

My male bee was just locked with my female pastel for over 24hrs straight so I took him out and put him back in his home to give him some rest after that marathon. Then on the other hand another pairing was only locked for somewhere around 6 hours so I left them together?

Suggestions, advice, personal preference welcomed.

Thanks!

I have my males on a 3 day per female schedule. I allow him three days, count the number of breedings witnessed and then off to the next female. Have been seeing multiple locks with all females, so seems to be working.

I give him a 3 day break after a long lock and leave him in if it was only a very short one till I see one more. As long as he's locking once a week or so he's getting the job done, no need to overwork him. Some people even go only once a month and have good results, I'm too afraid to try that yet though.

I leave my males in until they don't show interest any more. Then I give them 4 to 6 days off depending on the size of the male.

Originally Posted by mgoblue347

This is all well and good but what if you witness a lock, do you then remove after the lock is done and potentially offer to a different female? Or give him a rest?

I try to wait a minimum of a week after witnessing a lock before a male is reintroduced to another female. My reasoning behind this, after male has made his deposit, it takes time to regenerate for use on another female. There is very little info about this and I've only found two people that have given a time frame in which a male can leave a sufficient amount again. I'm not sure if it's true or accurate, but it was about a week. So I just remove the male after a lock breaks and introduce him to another female after a week has passed. I had 100% success last year only pairing females once a month and will continue to do it as long as it works. I have one female that I believe is nearing ovulation now and she has only been paired once every 5-6 weeks.

Originally Posted by mgoblue347

Or do you leave him in there for the remaining 2 days for potentially more locks?

I do not. There has been times where I have left the male in there after two days of breeding, went to remove him the next day, and he was locked again for two more days. This didn't cause any problems, but did throw my cycle off a bit. I already stretch the times between pairings further than the average, so if I can pull a male early after a quick pairing, I do. I also think that my girls eat better within a few hours of a copulation so I would rather try to get a meal in them.

Thanks for all the help and person preferences!