Flying drones

[Jen]

Stood by my mother hive today for about 5 minutes. I observed about 10 drones in and out of the entrance, small ones and big ones.

After the swarm last week this is the hive that will need to make a new queen. There were 2 queen cells in the mother hive, I think they were anyway. Could the observance of these drones coming and going be a sign of a mating flight?

[pistolpete]

your queen is not likely to mate with drones from your hive.  Queens fly further than drones, which just happens to help genetic diversity.    Lucky you,  I dont even have flying bees yet  and snow is falling as we speak.

[Woody Roberts]

Your new queen won't want to breed with her brothers. However some of the drones in your hive are visitors. Drones can and do go to any hive they want.

Like young men they can smell it a mile away.

[iddee]

The drones you see may not be from your hive. Drones are nomads. They go from hive to hive looking for a young lady interested in getting it on. Kinda like upper teen boys. Your young lady will likely join the boys behind the barn one to two weeks after the swarm.

[Jen]

Good Gravy! I had to run to the mirror and see if I was blushing   

[iddee]

 

[blueblood]

    but, seriously, this is a very interesting topic about drones.  And, I am very intrigued about how mated queen can get lost if she leaves the hive but a virgin can find her way back.

[Jen]

I think so too! I would like to see a main topic on Drones. We have on on Raising Queens.

[apisbees]

Drones will also take orientation flights, and although you do not want the queen mating with her own drones. It is encouraging in that it is a sign that there are drones being raised in the colonies in your area that will be mature enough to mate with the virgin queen.

[tecumseh]

a snip..
'Could the observance of these drones coming and going be a sign of a mating flight?'

another snip...
'Your new queen won't want to breed with her brothers.'

tecumseh...
things like swarming and mating flights typically happen at particular time of the day, so sometimes yes the appearance of drones leaving a hive can suggest they are joining in. 

words do matter and by and large there is nothing wrong with the second snip beyond placing individual selection purpose on the queen which is really a collective strategy and not something she has purposefully chosen for herself.  she may well mate with her own brothers and second cousins but this also mean she will be less robust and the hive less likely to be robust and reproduce itself. in a manage hive this kind of inbreeding is not so difficult to notice directly.

[apisbees]

Diploid-Drones
Normally drones develop from unfertilized eggs and are haploid. Diploid drones (called also "biparental males") develop from fertilized eggs which are homozygous at sex locus. In nature diploid drones do not survive until the end of larval development. The larvae of diploid drones are eaten by workers within few hours after hatching despite the fact that they are viable.
http://honeybee.drawwing.org/book/diploid-drones

This happening in your hive will present it self in the appearance of spotty brood. If your queen mates with 10 drones and 1 was the brother 10% of the small larva will be eaten by the bees. this will show as rather than having full frames of solid brood all the same age you will have frames of brood that the queen has to go back and relay in.