> Best to be sure you've sufficient drones - most breeders
>have a group of hives in the yard, each containing lots of drones. Don't
>rely on recruiting drones from feral colonies or other beekeepers - supply
>you own. The drones and queens know where to go.
I guess what the pros assume is that DCAs are a curiosity. In a good outfit
with enough drones flying in the vicinity of the hives where the queens are being
raised, the queens never have to go as far as a DCA. They find suitors once they
fly up.
I had thought that I had a DCA over my mating yard since so much mating was
happening there and the drones were chasing everything, including the swallows
(which in turn were dive-bombing our cats since I think they blamed them for
the indignities being perpetrated on them).
Maybe our yard *is* a DCA since it meets the descriptions somewhat, but I'm
that DCAs are just like bars where the studs hang out when there is nothing
happening.
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