# Drone sexual maturity?



## BJ (Sep 11, 2006)

How old does a drone have to be before he can properly mate?

I pulled a couple frames of eggs last year 4 or 5 days after the first drones were seen flying and didn't have a problem with the queen that was produced.
How much earlier can I get away with pulling frames?

That is assuming the snow is going to leave this year and we're going to have flowers!


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## peggjam (Mar 4, 2005)

The snow is never leaving, and there will be no flowers......drones take two weeks to mature .


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Laidlaw, in "Queen Rearing and Bee Breeding", 1st edition, pg 133 says:

"Drone comb should be given to the drone mothers 35-40 days before the drones are needed. Drones are used when they are ten days old."

He's talking about II, but still apparently are mature at that point.


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## BJ (Sep 11, 2006)

Thanks Peg and Michael,

I supose it's safe when the first drone is spotted like I did last year. 

Will the virgin queen shun her drone brothers in a mating flight? 

My local breeder said the drones will hang out in drone pods waiting for virgin's to fly. Any chance of drones from different hives all hanging in the same spot?


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>Will the virgin queen shun her drone brothers in a mating flight?

No. But she has different instincts that will generally lead her to a different DCA. She will fly further afield than the drones. But if the only one she and they can find is the same one, she does not care.

>My local breeder said the drones will hang out in drone pods waiting for virgin's to fly. Any chance of drones from different hives all hanging in the same spot?

Yes. It's called a Drone Congregation Area (DCA). It usually has drones from quite a number of colonies.


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## Jonathan Hofer (Aug 10, 2005)

My drone hive had eggs in the drone frame on Thursday which is the 12th of April. Presuming that the Drones emerge in 24 days, the drones will emerge on the 6th of May. From the above posts, it seems that the drones will be sexually mature and ready to mate 10 days after emergence, which is on the 16th of May. Can I start grafting queens on the first week of May and expect them to be mated, providing that there will be reasonable weather?

Thank-You

JH


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## peggjam (Mar 4, 2005)

You should be ok doing that. I had queen cells that I purchased that hatched on the 15th of May last year and they were mated ok... .


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## Jeffzhear (Dec 2, 2006)

Michael Bush said:


> Yes. It's called a Drone Congregation Area (DCA). It usually has drones from quite a number of colonies.



How far away from the hives are these DCA's? Anyone have a picture of a DCA? I'll also do a search on the web.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>How far away from the hives are these DCA's? Anyone have a picture of a DCA? I'll also do a search on the web.

Typically there will be one within a mile of the hive. Sometimes there is not and the drones fly further. The queen typically flies to one further away that that, which is why typically she doesn't mate with drones from her hive. Of course this is all in theory. Reality is often more complex. 

There's a picture in Larry Connor's Increase Essentials (from Wicwas Press) that has a picture of a balloon with a comet of drones following it. There's a queen in a cage on the balloon and this is the location of a flyway. Interestingly (at least to me) I saw him take the picture.


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