# Drone Congregation Areas



## Noah (Feb 1, 2008)

Has anybody ever seen one? If so what made you notice it? What else was in the area? How would I find one? I am interested in whatever knowledge you have about drone congregation areas.

I realize this might be a difficult thing to accomplish, but does anybody have a picture of one?


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## NasalSponge (Jul 22, 2008)

how is anyone suppose to see something 45 to 50 feet off the ground the size of a bee??


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## Scrapfe (Jul 25, 2008)

Bees mate far above our heads. Maybe a football field or more above us. I would think that the only way to recognize a drone congregation area is by watching for falling queen and drone bees. I think the term is called "comets." At any rate, to me it sounds like a piddling business, and more than a little voyeuristic.  :lpf:


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

I haven't seen one myself, but have heard them described. Apparently, once established, they are historically persistant and geographically definable. At an ABF Conference I saw pictures of one in Texas, if I remember correctly. It was found years ago and monitered for years and is still used by bees.

They aren't so high up to be unobservable by eye, if you are lucky.

Michael Bush probably has something about this on his website. Otherwise you may need to broaden your search.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>Has anybody ever seen one? 

Yes.

>If so what made you notice it?

We were trolling for it with a helium balloon and a cigarette filter soaked in "queen juice".

> What else was in the area? How would I find one? I am interested in whatever knowledge you have about drone congregation areas.

A University of Nebraska Lincoln student did a study on them and you might find that online somewhere. Short version is they tend to be where things like tree rows and other obstructions converge.

>I realize this might be a difficult thing to accomplish, but does anybody have a picture of one? 

There is a picture in "Bee Sex Essentials" by Larry Connor. I was there when the picture was taken...


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## frazzledfozzle (May 26, 2010)

I've seen queens mating a couple of times the last time was the most interesting because it happened in my home mating yard and it was weird because they were really low to the ground, so low that when a drone caught the queen they would all tumble into the long grass in the paddock and then in an instant be up and running again.

So it's not really an answer to your question but thought I'd mention it anyway.

frazz


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## Noah (Feb 1, 2008)

Trolling for drones, fantastic!

I had no clue they were so high up. Frazzled, why do you think the mating queens you have seen have been so low?


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

Such congregation areas are obviously used by a lower class of bees and might even be called dives.


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## frazzledfozzle (May 26, 2010)

Noah said:


> Trolling for drones, fantastic!
> 
> I had no clue they were so high up. Frazzled, why do you think the mating queens you have seen have been so low?


I dont know for sure but my guess is that the mating yard is actually really close to a drone congregation area because its in an ideal spot at the start of a narrow valley before it opens out to the plains.
The yard itself is right at the foot of a hill with the hill behind it and the plains directly in front of it which is known to be a good area for drones to congregate.

Or maybe it's like Vance said and we have a lower class of bee!

I was having smoko at the time I saw it and the weird way the bees were flying and diving caught my attention I didn't know what it was so I went and looked and it was happening in front of me about 3 meters away,
It was a relly interesting thing to see.

frazz


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Me too frazz. I saw this happening in a bee yard and thought at first that it was dragonflys going after drones. But it wasn't. My theory is that either the DCA is quite close to the yard or the drones that were close to the yard were really attracted to a returning queen. Or something like that.


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## mattyv (Apr 21, 2012)

Noah said:


> Has anybody ever seen one? If so what made you notice it? What else was in the area? How would I find one? I am interested in whatever knowledge you have about drone congregation areas.
> 
> I realize this might be a difficult thing to accomplish, but does anybody have a picture of one?


I found this interesting
....
Drone Sky Fishing Video on YouTube


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## Intheswamp (Jul 5, 2011)

When I first saw that video I thought "Now how cool is that!!". 

Neat that he's educating the kids at the same time...

Ed


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## beemandan (Dec 5, 2005)

There used to be one (probably still is) just off an exit on I75 in Perry GA. My old eyes would never spot them in the air but the parking lot of the Chic-fil-a was littered with dead drones. I was going to check it again this spring but the parking lot was closed off and the restaurant was undergoing a major renovation....probably a result of customers complaining about all the bees....


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

mattyv said:


> I found this interesting
> ....


And they say you can't learn all about bees on the internet... I think communication technology is why learning happens at a much faster rate then ever before and this is just one of many, many instances that proves it.


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## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

Interesting that the drones only seem attracted to the pheromone when the trap is aloft. Too bad he dosent give a little background about bees in the immediate area.


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## Daniel Y (Sep 12, 2011)

I see so few bees in my area I am honestly wondering how much of a DCA there can be here. I know there are some out there. But when you can look at entire flower gardens and not see one bee. It is sad.


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## Intheswamp (Jul 5, 2011)

Newbee thoughts about pheromone... 

From what I understand pheromone is very weak in a virgin queen and the other bees in the colony pay little attention to her *until* she begins laying. I don't know if there is a difference there between a mated queen and a drone-laying queen, though. In making swarm lures from pinched queens it has been stated that using virgins and queen cells doesn't work because of lack of pheromone. So, in her mating flights is "sight" more important than pheromone to the drones???

In regards to the drones disregarding pheromone at lower altitudes (if indeed pheromone is a factor) could it be that pheromone at that level is considered by the drones to be issued from established queens? 

Would a virgin with strong pheromone cause a swarm or cluster to form around her/follow her on her mating flights???

We know that drones will chase a rock thrown into the air. Does the balloon in the video draw their interest from a distance (sight), drawing them closer until they spot the "queen"????

Ed


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## psisk (Jul 21, 2011)

My drones dont care if it has pheremones or not. I raise roller pidgeons and the drones will chase them as they come in to land. Mine is in my bee yard in a thirty foot tall cabbage palm. I assume they are there because there are no other bees within eight or ten miles and maybe further. All our ferals have been wiped out due to aireal spraying for mosquitoes carring west nile virus and probably varroa mites as well. I like it here because I can control the drones doing the mating. 

psisk


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## Nichols747 (May 21, 2010)

I had to dig this thread up, because I saw a congregation are today! Ive got six nucs and two hives in my yard, and while mowing, I stopped to watch the bees heading out of one hive, across some contrasting shade.

I noticed about 50 feet uo. Where two rows of fir trees intersect, along a couple driveways and empty acreage, were hundreds of bees, doing a weird jigging flight straight up, and then dropping back down to the 50 foot level, before repeating. Just to be sure, I went over and poked around, and found several dead drones on the road! 

Closer to my hives than I expected, and were it not for the late afternoon sun/shade contrast, I never would've known!


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## Lburou (May 13, 2012)

NasalSponge said:


> how is anyone suppose to see something 45 to 50 feet off the ground the size of a bee??


We should write a govt grant to study drone congregation areas and report on ways to tax them. Know anybody who can write a grant?


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## Adam Foster Collins (Nov 4, 2009)

mattyv said:


> I found this interesting
> ....
> Drone Sky Fishing Video on YouTube


Pretty awesome to see that. I agree it would have been cooler to know a little more about the area and how he came to that place.

Adam


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## TalonRedding (Jul 19, 2013)

Check this out. It's lengthy, but very informative. I think you will be interested. 
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3635128/#!po=28.9474


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

Good find.


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## TalonRedding (Jul 19, 2013)

Btw, as far as open mated queens go, this would be a great application for finding honeybee diversity in an area around apiaries if one had the know-how. Test your captured bees, plug the results in a diversity index, and there ya go! :scratch:


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## McBee7 (Dec 25, 2013)

TalonRedding said:


> Btw, as far as open mated queens go, this would be a great application for finding honeybee diversity in an area around apiaries if one had the know-how. Test your captured bees, plug the results in a diversity index, and there ya go! :scratch:


If a person had the time to test your own bee yards...You could send up a smaller version of what the 
gentelman in the video had,,,a smaller balloon with a smaller net..one might be suprised at the presence
or absence of drones....If you tested every other week, and also timed the drone response time....
It might give a person a better idea of how far a virgin has to go to get mated,,,,,

I'm very isolated here in northern MN, and I wondered obout the mating thing,,,I had a couple of matings
for home raised queens last summer and I'm sure the drones had to be from my own yard,,,Next closest
yard is 7miles or more....

I'm still laughing about the implications of the cigerette butt ,,,better not go there....lolol...
Excellent video...

==McBee7==


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## Bob_in_Westsylvania (May 5, 2013)

If you subscribe to Netflix, view the new 1 1/2 hr movie/documentary, More Than Honey.
http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Mo...trkid=13462100 

There is a DCA and queen mating in the movie. The videography is amazing. They go right into the DCA and film the mating very close up. 

The mating scene and a glimpse of the DCA are at the end of the movie's trailer at 
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=vb.537260272979512&type=2


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