OK all you long time beeks.....
How do newly flighted drones know where the local DCA is when they leave the hive "looking for love"...and better yet how do newly flighted queens out on a mating flight have any clue where to go to "hook up" with those studly drones?
Sitting here drinking my coffee looking at a hive that is apparently going to supersede for the second time this season (Packages from foreign parts...never again) and thinking bee porn thoughts....can almost hear the cheezy 70's porno music playing in the DCA to set the mood :-)
I often wondered the same question... but I am not sure I would have asked it in the same way... I do like your question however... and the way you asked it.
What they know:
Drone flyways follow topographical patterns. They tend to follow treelines and clearings and the DCA tends to be a big clearing at the end of such a tree-row etc. Drones can smell queen pheromones from a very long ways off.
What they suspect:
Drones probably leave a pheromone trail which probably helps other drones find the flyway and probably helps the queen find the flyway. So probably a new drone just follows the pheromone trail that is already there, but if it wasn't, he would probably fly in a straight line until encountering a row of trees or some other landmark such as a rode and follow it until he catches the sent of a flyway and then follows the pheromones. And if that wasn't there he'd follow the line of trees until he came to a nice clearing and hang out there until he smells a queen.
It sure would be nice to get a gps tracker to put on a drone...
What a great title lol
Yea, the title took me a second.
I have often wondered the same. (How do they hook up and do the wild thing?)
I am a remote area, before I brought in hives I had not seen bees. Now they are everywhere.
I'd really enjoy learning more about this, I saw a Brit post a Youtube using a balloon and pheromones to attract drones. It was fascinating.