Mating Flight
Verhalten der Bienen
About five to ten days after emerging, the young queen flies to the drone congregation areas on warm, calm afternoons.
About five to ten days after emerging, the young queen flies to the drone congregation areas on warm, calm afternoons. There she mates in flight, on one or several flights, with a whole series of drones from other colonies. Exactly how many is disputed in the literature, with figures ranging from a few up to around thirty. This store of semen has to last her entire life.
Mating is the most vulnerable moment in a colony's life. Rain, cold, wind, or a bird can cost the queen, and a colony without a replacement is lost.
Therefore: leave the colony alone during this phase. Do not inspect it, do not move it, do not pull combs. A first look is worthwhile no earlier than about two weeks after emergence. The queen can be reliably assessed once, after about three weeks, proper eggs stand singly and upright on the cell bottoms.