Drones and virgin queens.

[kazmcc]

Hold on to your hats folks! Daft question number 12,458 coming in

Dusty gave me a heap of old BBKA News magazines to look through ( with the warning to take what I read with a pinch of salt ) Anyway, I was reading an article on drones and it got me wondering. If drones are accepted into any hive, even with a virgin queen present, do any shenanigans take place in the hive, or would the other bees not allow it?

These are the pressing issues I ponder while washing up

 

[mbc]

Hold on to your hats folks! Daft question number 12,458 coming in

Dusty gave me a heap of old BBKA News magazines to look through ( with the warning to take what I read with a pinch of salt ) Anyway, I was reading an article on drones and it got me wondering. If drones are accepted into any hive, even with a virgin queen present, do any shenanigans take place in the hive, or would the other bees not allow it?

These are the pressing issues I ponder while washing up

Drones and queens seem to ignore each other inside the hive though I've seen drones returning to the hive after a flight so exited they "pop" at the slightest touch.

 

[kazmcc]

I wonder if it is something they must do on the wing. Seeing as mating flights for both queens and drones are full of danger, it seems odd that these efficient insects, after all that goes in to making a queen, would risk it otherwise.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Perhaps it's the thrill of the chase?
Perhaps mating on the wing ensures the genes of the fittest fastest drone survive?

 

[mbc]

Perhaps it's the thrill of the chase?
Perhaps mating on the wing ensures the genes of the fittest fastest drone survive?

It's incredibly risky for the individual colonies but obviously successful at a species level and apparently is about avoiding inbreeding as well as selecting for the strongest genes.

 

[Michael Palmer]

do any shenanigans take place in the hive, or would the other bees not allow it?

Not allow it. Drones are herded to the far edges of the broodnest, away from active brood rearing.

 

[kazmcc]

Thanks everyone for your answers. Stay tuned for daft question number 12,459

The article has piqued my interest in the role of drones within a colony. I know people say they do nothing, just eat and mate but surely there is more to them than this.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I've seen drones returning to the hive after a flight so exited they "pop" at the slightest touch.

Ahh - takes me back to my adolescent days

 

[mbc]

Ahh - takes me back to my adolescent days

Lol, it can feel a bit like you're everting you're insides out, luckily humans tend not to fall from the sky and die afterwards.

 

[kazmcc]

Ahem, too much information lol

 

[thorn]

people say they do nothing, just eat and mate but surely there is more to them than this.

And, JBM, this sums up your middle years.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Not allow it. Drones are herded to the far edges of the broodnest, away from active brood rearing.

Yes, that's always where I find them

I know people say they do nothing, just eat and mate but surely there is more to them than this.

Perhaps they watch blue movies in the wings?

 

[snelgrove]

Drones being ejected now with some of my colonies.

 

[drstitson]

austrian research showed that drones and queens head to different DCAs.

 

[For want of a better word]

austrian research showed that drones and queens head to different DCAs.

Quite so....
in my yoof the girls all headed up to the Cats Whiskers in Streatham... and us blokes down to Brighton!

Yeghes da

 

[MuswellMetro]

Quite so....
in my yoof the girls all headed up to the Cats Whiskers in Streatham... and us blokes down to Brighton!

Yeghes da

yep and then they all performed in small groups a weird mating dance around their handbags . I never go to understand the reason behind that

 

[For want of a better word]

yep and then they all performed in small groups a weird mating dance around their handbags . I never go to understand the reason behind that

Must be a Brighton thing.... what colour was your hand bag ?... I still have my black patent leather one Gucci cost £4 19s 6d... a weeks wage in Woolworths!

Yeghes da

 

[MuswellMetro]

Must be a Brighton thing.... what colour was your hand bag ?... I still have my black patent leather one Gucci cost £4 19s 6d... a weeks wage in Woolworths!

Yeghes da

if i had taken a handbag into the Gresham in Kentish town or when have a int in the Assembly rooms opposite, then i would not have got out alive

 

[kazmcc]

austrian research showed that drones and queens head to different DCAs.

What are DCAs? Drone congregation area?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Yes