I have a question that has been worrying me for some time. The discussion involving CSD genetics on the "Yet another Puzzle" thread made me wonder if this is the place to air it.

I have been trying to maintain my near natives for a number of years and sometimes fighting a losing battle due to the exotic races (mainly Greek Buckfast crosses) that were constantly being introduced into the surrounding area. Fortunatley I was able to move a couple of years ago to an area where the vast majority of beekeepers cooperate together to keep compatible strains (which happen to be natives or near natives) so my task has suddenly become much easier.

However, I now have a mixture of stock of varying hues and wing venation although they all exhibit native behavioural traits such as small brood nests and responsiveness to weather and floral conditions. Despite this mix of genetics and colours the thing that puzzles me is that I can't remember ever seeing any of my drones with yellow markings. They are all black all over. I appreciate that a pure native queen can only lay black drones even though she may have mated with yellow ones but my queens themselves must vary in purity. Even if there is some reason that all my drones are black then I would still expect to see yellow drifters.

My questions are: do other people notice the same phenomenon and does anyone have an explanation of why it should happen?

Thanks in advance

Rosie