>There is a chapter on drone congregation areas in Beowulf Cooper's book The
>Honeybees of the British Isles. Its complicated.

>Chris

    Complicated, yes, but I don't think it answers the question. Cooper's
argument is that (in our UK climate, which probably isn't too conducive to
the classic mating assembly), there are three distinct types of mating
behaviour.

    The first is apiary vicinity mating, when the queens mate on short, local
flights, apparently with drones from nearby hives. This will obviously be an
advantage in the bad weather we often get in early summer.

    Then there is the short-lived bubble assembly. Drones congregate in a
bubble of warm air near the apiary, taking advantage of what might be a very
brief spell of good weather. In this case, I would imagine they just head for
the nearest warm air, and again, the queens probably mate with drones from
nearby hives.

    Lastly, there's the classic distant assembly. This forms during spells of
settled hot weather, and attracts drones and queens from a large area. They
may form regularly at the same spot for many years; Cooper mentions one which
was recorded by Giblet White in the 18th Century; he found one on the same
spot. In the UK, they usually form during the second half of June and in
July.

    In combination, the three create a situation where one would expect
inbreeding in bad years, and outbreeding in good years which allow distant
assemblies to form. I can't see where I put Cooper's book, and I hope I
haven't misrepresented him at all. It's a good question, though; how do the
bees find the distant assemblies?



Regards,

Robert Brenchley,
Birmingham, UK.

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