Janet, I haven’t read Koeniger and Koeniger’s MATING BIOLOGY OF HONEY BEES, but will do so pronto. Thanks for the reference!
In any event, it seems to me that we are now at the interface between science-derived knowledge and practical beekeeping knowledge (what is referred to in the bioscience literature as “anecdotal” and social science literature as “Local Ecological Knowledge,” “Traditional Ecological Knowledge,” etc.). When it comes to establishing isolated mating yards or negotiating/establishing quarantine zones, I wonder how much of the decision-making is based on science, practical beekeeper knowledge, or a blend of both?
Thirty years ago, Mark Winston (THE BIOLOGY OF THE HONEY BEE, 1987: 204-206) reviewed the scientific literature on DCAs and mating distances. “There appears to be both a minimum and maximum distance between the source colonies for drones and queens within which mating commonly occurs…Queens and drones rarely come from colonies less than 2 km apart, and the nests of origin are most commonly separated by 5-7 km. However, matings commonly occur between drones and queens from nests as far apart as 12 km and up to 17 km. Most studies suggest that virgin queens usually fly 2-3 km on mating flights, but there is some disagreement about the average distances flown by drones, which are greater than 2 km in some studies…but less than 2 km in others (Taylor, Kingsolver, and Otis, 1986). Also, while this last study found a steady decline with distance in the numbers of drones found at various congregation areas, the earlier group found no such relationship, at least within a 7-km radius. The differences between these studies may reflect topographical differences between the study sites, or racial and age differences in the drones marked for study, since there is a positive relationship between drone age and the distance drones travel to mate…”
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