To Jerry and the List,

Although I have never seen nor have I ever heard of this phenomenon, I
certainly place a high value on Mr. Hayes' report. I have seen and heard
about more fall supersedure swarms this year than ever before – a lot with
virgin queens. I have seen and heard of hives having Russian and Russian
hybrid queens with plenty of drones this late in the fall while the
Italians are kicking the old boys out the door. Perhaps, just perhaps that
swarm of drones had visited that same spot, a place where a hive once was
where they used to return after unsuccessful nuptial flights from a nearby
drone congregation area. Old habits are hard to break, even for drones.
And, perhaps, just perhaps that exact same spot where the swarm of drones
wound up congregating once contained a top bar hive and this swarm of
drones from habit congregated at the old watering hole as the male gender
often does buzzing about the one that got away.

Cheers,

Chuck Norton

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