I have a suspicion. Drones fly to where they like the looks of, and remain wherever the most drones are heard. Same for the queen except queen doesn't have to wait so she can fly further, so she avoids the first spot or two. Say foreplay for her.
It is amazing to see how nature hardwires characteristics to give the bees their best chance of success. The bees have no other way to know to avoid in-breeding. But the drones know to go to a DCA, and all the hives in a range send drones to one or more DCA, which means there are only a small percentage of those drones that could possibly be from the queen's own hive. The queens also know to go to a DCA, and (who knew?!) they mate with multiple (did she really say up to 10?) drones in a single flight. Given that plus the knowledge a queen goes on several mating flights, I wonder if our numbers of drones to get a queen well mated (10 to 20?) is accurate or whether she is gathering sperm from more.
Healthy man produces roughly 250 000 000 sperms per ejaculation. Bee queen in a season lays about 1500 eggs a day, and lives up to five years. I don't know how much drones produce but it is gonna be a lot. His tests and phallus basically fill his entire abdomen. That doesn't mean she doesn't require more. I need to learn more.
@@kokeskokeskokes A good mating will include 4-10 drones. A great mating even more. She needs more than just quantity - she needs variation or all of her offspring will be the same genetics.
@@julieenslow5915 I understand. I fear the homogenization step, that's all. I would love to do without. Preferably by flying enclosers, with real queens and drones, within DCA. That is how I got to sniff around here.
