I was called to get a swarm from a yard ornament last week. When I got there, the swarm was gone, but the lady showed me the hive where they came from. It was in the wall of a shed about 20' away. There was a lot of activity with hundreds of bees buzzing about the entrance. I went over for a closer look and for a second I thought I was seeing a new kind of bee I'd never seen before. These suckers were huge! I watched for awhile and noticed in the flurry of bees a few "normal" field bees with pollen on them going in. I realized I was seeing drones by the hundreds! :shock: I've never seen so many drones in flight before. I was wondering, did the old hive have one (or more?) virgin queen that was attracting all the drones? My golden retreiver was in heat recently, and every male dog that got her scent was hanging around. Do drones do the same thing? I've never seen this many drones in a hive, so I'm guessing they were from neighboring hives. Anyone else seen this?
probably. i have noticed that when i pick up swarms with virgin queens, the swarm has a large number of drones with it. you may have witnessed a mating flight, or they were gathering for one.
I saw a queen bee on my brick pile a few years ago surrounded by several bees. Some were workers and some drones, maybe about 10 or 12 bees total. I think a queen scent can be picked up by bees a ways off. The drones smelled the goal in life.
Maybe the hive was a hive that had lost its queen and not being able to raise one the workers started laying...workers can only lay drones....