Drone color and markings?

[bee-nuts]

Drones are usually the same color as the rest of the bees right?  Yes I know they are their mother if she is say half carni, half italian and look yellow her drones could look black Im guessing.  But for the most part if you have several colonies and they all look like the typical italian the drones should look simular in color, correct?  I see lots of dark and black drones in my colonies.  So Im thinking I have a good sized feral population of carni or maybe even AMM in the area.  I am pretty confident their are not any bees very close to this yard so Im sure they are feral.  My friend down the road has a plain and he confirmed the closest beekeeper is about four miles.  Of course you cant see everything from the air but I at least know there are not any sizable beeks near me.

[CapnChkn]

Bees would take the coloration of the dominant set of genes in their DNA.  The reason for the drones taking the coloration of the maternal line is there are no other genes to contribute to the end result.  In general the bees would look similar, but in a feral population they would be variegated.  Like cats, one litter could have all different colors, temperaments, and sizes.

If there are bees within a certain area, you would probably see an increase of one kind or another, but drone behavior doesn't have them just going from one hive to yours, drones are vagabonds.  They'll move from one hive to another and don't have any determined reason to stay in one area.

You could be seeing drones from one feral hive, but you could also be seeing them come from hives piggybacking through others in the area.  You're right, it's likely they're coming from one or more local hives, it depends, I suppose, on how many of them you're seeing.