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Thread: Drone Congregation Areas

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    Banned Stromnessbees's Avatar
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    Default Drone Congregation Areas

    As I am keen on the conservation of the dark bee I have become interested in drone congregation areas (let's call them DCAs). In the long run it would be great if we could identify areas which are dominated by native bees and place mating nucs near their DCAs.

    At the moment there seems to be little information about Scottish DCAs available, and I wonder if we can get together and create a bit of a database about them. Important points would be location and a description of the topography as well as times of activity and favourable weather conditions.

    I have to admit that I have never observed one myself yet, but I feel this is quite a neglected subject in our knowledge about our bees. I also feel that with a bit of publicity we could get other naturalists interested, and more eyes on the lookout would certainly be helpful.

    Anybody else interested?
    Doris

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    Administrator gavin's Avatar
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    Little experience myself, but I know a man who does. His DCA is around the tree tops beside and over a stream just to the south of a raised grassy area near a big house. I couldn't have predicted where it would be, despite having read Beowulf Cooper's book where he gives several examples.

    Raised areas with a south-facing aspect? The kind of place Picts put their carved stones?!

    Perhaps for Orkney and other breezy and bee-sparse places this is an important issue. If you go as far as doing the Karl Showler long pole trick with a cotton wool 'queen' soaked in queen substance, I demand photos for the forum!

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    Banned Stromnessbees's Avatar
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    How about a map where we can enter known DCAs?
    (I can't see much of a security problem in releasing that kind of information.)

    Would it be possible to use a Google map or even Google Earth for that purpose?

    Doris

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    Hi
    the problem we have with DCAs here is that all drones go to the same places. You really need bee free areas where you can bring drones and queens to. I would have thought the outer isles / Orkneys / Shetlands would be bee perfect. (sorry just had to).
    Calum

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    Administrator gavin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Calum View Post
    .... would be bee perfect. (sorry just had to).
    I think that was the first one! Yes, those who strive to keep Amm pure in mixed areas sometimes try to encourage apiary vicinity mating for that reason (letting the bees out in the early evening for example). However if you think that your area is populated by the strain you wish to keep, and especially if drones are sparse, then knowing where the DCAs are may help. I'm told that queens usually fly south on a gently increasing incline, so if that is true (the man who told me may be along to help us out one day) parking the nucs a couple of hundred m to the N might be the best place.

    A map would be great if there are enough people around who know of DCAs, but the one I'm talking about would have to remain private as the site is a bit sensitive.

    G.

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    Banned Stromnessbees's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Calum View Post
    Hi
    the problem we have with DCAs here is that all drones go to the same places. You really need bee free areas where you can bring drones and queens to. I would have thought the outer isles / Orkneys / Shetlands would be bee perfect. (sorry just had to).
    Calum
    Calum, there are two problems with your suggestion:

    Firstly we wouldn't want the traffic of bees to the islands due to the inevitability of importing varroa and maybe other diseases.

    Secondly theses mating stations would have to have a great variety of drone colonies, as queens should be mated with drones from as many different colonies as possible.

    What kind of bees do you have and do you rear your own queens?

    Doris

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    Hi Doris,

    I appreciate your point about the traffic of bees. I have carnica bees, last year I reared 30 queens. Of those I let 20 mate around my bee stand in single frame nucs. The other ten were from an exceptionally good colony I bought a frame of open brood from. I sent them up into the mountains in (the alps) for mating with selected drones from the regional beekeepers association. A setup like that does not exist in scotland but could be a nice project for an area that has no bees at all. - Do Coll or Tiree have any bees at all? That would be a nice day out for all the beekeepers from Mull!

    just food for thought

    Calum

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    Senior Member Jon's Avatar
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    There is some very good information about DCAs here.

    http://www.beeculture.com/storycms/i...y&recordID=603

    I sent them up into the mountains in (the alps) for mating with selected drones from the regional beekeepers association.
    To pick up on Calum's point the article states:

    In flat country, it was impossible to get pure matings if there were other colonies in the neighborhood; at least 6 km must be free of bees or inhabited by the same strain in order to prevent crossing. A physical barrier of over 500 m seemed to be necessary to prevent colonies as close as three km away from intermingling. Drones, and apparently also queens, will not willingly fly over water (Ruttner and Ruttner 1965b).
    Last edited by Jon; 13-05-2010 at 12:10 PM.

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    Interesting it would be to have a map but what about rogue drones from colonies not so used to DCA's or in there genetics to use them opting for solo hunts ! ? You can also set up your own DCA within Apiary, metal sheeting sitting in full sun creat's a thermal, The apiary drones use this to play and test flights/ enough roof's also creats the desired effect without the need for anything.

    Gavin has a point about some area's being sensetive, Some folks would'nt want mini nucs appearing all over the place especially since we have Foulbroods to deal with, Isolation these days is not as hard to find since there is evidence of a shrinking bee population,again depends on how you veiw things.

    L.P.

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    Senior Member Jon's Avatar
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    Selected drone congregation areas were regularly observed for five years to verify that the dimensions of these congregation zones did not change greatly during this time (Ruttner and Ruttner 1968). When strange colonies were introduced into the vicinity, new drones were found at the congregation areas on the first day in equal proportion with local drones. This was true for congregation zones both near and distant to the apiary (2-3 km). Drones of different races of Apis mellifera (carnica, ligustica, mellifera, intermissa) were found at congregation areas, sometimes several races at one place (Ruttner and Ruttner 1972).
    I thought that this was very significant.
    If someone happens to introduce a colony with a different race of bee, aggressive bees or generally undesirable bees, you are going to have problems with queen mating from day one.

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