Where 950 queens are mated: visit to the mating station Sauschütt in the Ebersberg forest

Created: 07/08/2022 19:37

By: Friedbert Holz

In the Ebersberger forest is the mating station Sauschütt.

© Johannes Dziemballa

Deep in the Ebersberg forest it's buzzing, humming and going around: Queen bees are mated in the mating station Sauschütt.

It's high season right now.

Hohenlinden - You can hardly make out the Sauschütt checkpoint, only a small sign on the state road 2086 between Hohenlinden and Ebersberg gives an inconspicuous indication.

Here, in the middle of the Ebersberg Forest in a narrow clearing, tiny bees achieve great things.

In around 50 so-called mating boxes, mounted on pegs and laid out like a large garden, bee colonies live at times with their young, as yet unmated queen.

She knows only one goal: to be mated with by drones in order to then, back in the wooden box, lay eggs for many new bees.

Mating station in operation since the 1930s

"Providing" is what the beekeepers call it, who bring their respective queen bees to the mating flight here, very close to the Sauschütt excursion restaurant.

"This mating station, which has been in operation since the 1930s, is located in the middle of the forest," explains Herbert Schwarzer from Dorfen, "because both bees and drones have a flight radius of around seven kilometers and we want to be sure that they don't come here be disturbed, for example by unwanted drones from another breed of bee".

The beekeepers Herbert Schwarzer and Kathi Seidl.

© Johannes Dziemballa

It is the only mating site in the Ebersberg forest, the next one is far away in the Freisinger Moos.

"In the season, which runs from mid-May to around mid-August, around 950 queen bees are to be mated with," says beekeeper Kathi Seidl from Reithofen.

She and Herbert Schwarzer, both members of the Erding district beekeeping association, have bees in one of the many mating boxes.

"Each about 500 workers with a queen, who can feast on a feed dough made of sugar.

This food lasts the small animals for about two to three weeks.”

(By the way: Everything from the region is now also available in our regular Ebersberg newsletter.)

You can also see three small plastic frames with honeycombs.

In this way, a beekeeper can check on these brood combs whether mating is working and whether the queen has already laid eggs.

Up to 150 wooden boxes with bee colonies are in the mating station.

© Johannes Dziemballa

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The reason why the bees leave their home location lies in the mating process of their respective queen.

As soon as this has hatched, after about five days, it leaves the said wooden house and flies to the drones.

This male form of the bee is slightly larger and is only used to maintain their race.

They don't have to do any work in the beehive, they don't collect any pollen either, and are considered lazy – as every child from “Maya the Bee” knows.

They also live here in the forest in similar boxes, swarming out every day.

Queen lays up to 2000 eggs a day

During the so-called nuptial flight of the queen bee to drone collection points, she is mated by five to ten different drones in flight, "a process of seconds that is very difficult to observe," says beekeeper Schwarzer.

The respective drones die after the act of copulation, having done their duty.

The queen, however, flies back to her colony and lays the fertilized eggs about five days after mating – up to 2000 a day.

"In the high season," reports Schwarzer, "there can be up to 150 such wooden boxes here at the mating station.

For each unmated queen, beekeepers then have to pay 1.50 euros to our association as a contribution to expenses.” After the mating season, the various bee colonies, including their queens, as well as the drone colonies, are brought home again, where they wait for the new season.

You can find more current news from the district of Ebersberg at Merkur.de/Ebersberg.