Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => REQUEENING & RAISING NEW QUEENS => Topic started by: Stlnifr on October 12, 2010, 07:51:56 pm
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If you capture feral swarms from a bee tree and want to continue with the feral bees by raising a few queens every spring to re-queen. Would the virgin queen mate with the drones from the hives in your apiary? I am sure they are no bee keepers with in a 1 ½ mile radius from where the bees would be, am surrounded by woods. Not sure about any feral bees in the area. Also not sure beyond the 1 ½ mile radius if they are other hobby bee keepers in the area. How far do drones travel to DCA to mate and does the queen try to not to mate with her offspring by flying further to seek an unrelated mate. Or does it just not matter who she mates with.
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If your queen flies 1 1/2 miles away and the drone from the other side flies 1 1/2 mile closer to you.....
I bet there are several hives in that area. You need lots of drones for a queen to mate with also.
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Queens will fly more than 6 miles to mate at times...helps to insure against inbreeding.
Scott
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The queen will mate with what she finds. But as mentioned her instincts lead her further away on average than the drones. Does this guarantee she won't mate with the drones from her yard? No. But it stacks the deck.
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Queens will fly more than 6 miles to mate at times...helps to insure against inbreeding.
Scott
Can I ask where you came up with 6 miles from?
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Where do they come up with any of those numbers?It could be hundred yards or a hundred miles?I'm not sure there has been anything other than surmising on this fact unless possibly a radio transmitter had been attached.
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I ran along side one one time with my trusty pedometer...those things don't lie man :-D
Actually I can't say why that is in my head. Some long ago reading perhaps. I'll try to find the source.
Scott
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I read they fly about 5 miles. See it depends what the reading material is.
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I've read a lot of different numbers on this subject,but they all seem to repeat what someone else said.It would be interesting to find out where they come up with these numbers though.
We've all also read about drone congregation areas but has any one seen one? perhaps a hot air balloonist would be my best guess.
But suffice it to say,the best queens are probably those that have managed not to mate with her own offspring.
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Ken, I was walking deep in the swamp one time when I noticed a flickering light in the tree tops. After scaling a tall oak I noticed that the light was coming from a half-lit neon sign that read (to the best of my recollection)" XXXQUEEN EXTRAVAGANZAXXX" with a secondary "FREE NECTAR". I figured I had stumbled upon the beekeepers equivalent of an elephant graveyard so I slowly backed away. :-D
Scott
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The problem, of course, is that she might fly 10 yards and she might fly six miles... the research I've seen just averages things out and comes to the conclusion that on the AVERAGE the queen flies further than the drones. This is certainly far from a distinct distance that a queen will always fly. Her instincts just send her further on average than the drones instincts send them on average. On any given day I'm sure some researcher will come up with a different number depending on the whims of that queen and those drones... not because their measurements are off..
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Ken, I was walking deep in the swamp one time when I noticed a flickering light in the tree tops. After scaling a tall oak I noticed that the light was coming from a half-lit neon sign that read (to the best of my recollection)" XXXQUEEN EXTRAVAGANZAXXX" with a secondary "FREE NECTAR". I figured I had stumbled upon the beekeepers equivalent of an elephant graveyard so I slowly backed away. :-D
Scott
:lol:
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Ken, I was walking deep in the swamp one time when I noticed a flickering light in the tree tops. After scaling a tall oak I noticed that the light was coming from a half-lit neon sign that read (to the best of my recollection)" XXXQUEEN EXTRAVAGANZAXXX" with a secondary "FREE NECTAR". I figured I had stumbled upon the beekeepers equivalent of an elephant graveyard so I slowly backed away. :-D
Scott
Was this anywhere near that club "Hardwoods"?