Apiary vicinity mating

[prakel]

I too, have contacted Seely on this, he does not know what is happening however he does confirm that if a nuc has not enough bees in it they will go out (abscond) with the queen when she flies.

I'm sure some of the older books state this in a very matter of fact way -can't think of specifics at present but I may be tempted to search a couple of references out.

So what AVM is is the queen leaving the nuc for the first time taking an orientation flight in front of the nuc doing some local circling with the few bees from the nuc aimlessly following her scent, in other words a minature swarm, which, in some cases, does not return to the nuc and is interpreted as absconding. So, logically, it appears that AVM is not a real queen mating event but an absconding event.

Is it myth busted ?

There are a few references of usurpation among European honey bees -seem to remember the Drone-Ranger mentioning one a week or two ago on this forum.... maybe another natural extension of whatever is happening here.

Myth busted? Probably best (for the long term health of the bees) if it has been unless the research showing the benefits of mating across a large gene pool is wrong.