Aaron Morris wrote

> to my surprise, the marked queen came to the top of the frames and
promptly
> flew off!  In all my years I've never seen such a thing.  .

> Has anyone else ever seen such a thing?

Yes, I have seen it quite often when catching queens from mating nucs.  They
do not go too far and will return to the nuc provided the ants do not get
her first.  If they fly and I cannot find her in the grass, I usually close
up the nuc and come back when I have finished the yard and catch her.

Are they any good as a queen and will they continue to fly for the rest of
their life?  I used a couple of these "fliers" myself in our own hives and
found that they settled down and I did not see them fly again.  Maybe in our
case, it is because they are young and a little nervous.

Trevor Weatherhead
AUSTRALIA

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