apiary vicinity mating - staging post

[Jon]

I see this a lot.
A queen mates over the apiary site than she lands somewhere with her coterie of bees from the mating flight.
They usually form a little cluster and then return to the apidea.
There must be some purpose to this cluster as I have seen it frequently.

This is the one I mentioned last week.
The video was recorded on Wednesday and she was laying on Sunday when I checked her apidea.

See how I have them trained like collie dogs to climb into the marking cage!