Can anyone enlighten me. All the literature I have read says the drone flies out mates with the queen and then falls to the ground dead. Is it possible, that he mates with the queen, and then tries to fly home dying on the way or even back at the hive?
Last year I counted about 30 drones all dead at the side of a hive, some successfully having mated, others with the endophallus still attached, but exposed....
Yesterday afternoon some time ( I was out so did nt see this ) a dead drone appeared on the landing board infront of the hive, with endophallus exposed. searching amongst the grass around I found another dead drone, this time no endophallus, but a big hole where it should have been.....
Could they have been attracted out when (hopefully) a virgin from the next door hive went on a flight, and returned to base, job done? or could I have a drone congregation area above one of my hives?
hope picture works.... point and press camera difficult to focus . taken last year, same arrangement this year!
I haven't made the same observations as you (didn't look yet), but as long as the drone has still got the endophallus it should not have mated, as it needs to come of for a successful mating (I believe).
The chances of finding a drone that has mated successfully somewhere around your hives will be extremely slim. There might be other ways for the endophallus to come off, even if the drone has not mated.
yes that is what the books say .. but see my out of focus picture!..... the layout is mine! the ones on the left are all without endophallus, the ones on the right have it still attached ... no-one so far as I have seen has mentioned the drones getting part way through the procedure and failing to complete! Nor that they fly home ....... And it is now 2 years in succession that I have observed it. I think I was lucky last year. they all fell on top of a hive I was storing under the other one . with a bit of roof projecting, this year having found drone + endophallus on lighting board I went looking! But my bees are in a field with long grass etc around . I go in for the wild natural look rather than the manicured look
The Drones with their endophallus hanging out may be due to some beekeepers (the ones white beards are the worst) coming along and popping them like they did in Fife a few months ago. On a more serious note the drones must be trying to mate near the hives with some being successful and others just missing the mark.
At the risk of dragging this down .... ripe drones are just ready to pop (I've never tried that famous trick of passing a mature drone into the warm hand of an unsuspecting bystander ... ). Maybe they just popped at some stage perhaps after being thrown out. I wouldn't assume that missing endophalli (?!) indicate successful mating. Perhaps the little scavengers around the hive just find them ... well ... nutritious?
Clearly some research is required, and I'm sure that Doris and BeesandHens will keep their eyes peeled.
Drones life cycle
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