Mating Flights

[drstitson]

"Does anyone know if Drones offer their services to other colonies virgins?"

of course they do. a virgin fertilised by her brothers will end up producing loads of diploid drones and the colony would likely fail.

european research suggests that HM and drones prefer DCAs in different direction and different distances.

basically HM wants to maximise chances of getting a decent dose of diverse DNA whilst minimising risk of failing to return from flights.
drones OTOH obviously just want to maximise chance of passing on their contribution without any concern for survival since, for them, success = death.

 

[oliver90owner]

Agree with Dr S. Drones wander from hive to hive, so don't go thinking all the drones in any single hive have all the same DNA as the queen. A rather less simplistic situation arises and it may even be different later in the year than earlier.

Bees know what they are doing if left alone - they diversified for millions of years before the first beekeeper came along, some few thousand years ago. Real interference with their natural mating habits has only occurred since the removable frame hive was adopted, I would suggest?

RAB

 

[beeno]

Glad I found this thread, I've got a queen less nuc but a member of my local assoc has a virgin due to hatch next weekend. Would people think its viable she'll get mated and laying in time for winter?


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It is certainly possible. If it does not work out you could always do a unite.

 

[oliver90owner]

If it does not work out you could always do a unite.

Not a lot of other choices unless the colony is doomed, if action left too late?

There is also the other option of introducing a laying queen, possibly with addition of emerging brood from another colony?

Nearly always options for those that think early enough, do the maths and get suitable weather conditions.

The end of September or early October can be two months before they settle down for the winter. It is situations like that where a decent beekeeper can make or break the smaller colony. For instance, that late in the season I would not be waiting for six weeks for any new queen to start laying (like some have done in the past, after early season swarming). Just needs common sense applying, really.

RAB