When a new queen emerges from the pupal cell she will spend a few days in the hive, then after usually a week to ten days after emerging, on a fine, warm day she will leave the hive on a mating flight. She will usually fly at about ten metres above the ground towards an area where drones from the surrounding area congregate. The drones will start to pursue the queen at which point she will fly at an increasing altitude with the drones chasing her. Eventually she will be mated on the wing by several drones. After this she will return to the hive and will start laying eggs a couple of days later.
As a side point, we know about the drone congregation areas, but although successive generations tend to use the same areas we don't know why the drones choose these particular places to gather.
Queen bees go on a mating flight when they become an adult. After mating with up to 14 males, she will lay eggs for the rest of her life. That could be as long as five years.
They be flying for a river.
All of their lives.
in the hive
yeah they mate and generally they fight for their mates
She is born a queen and different from other bees. She will leave her birth nest and mate, then start her own colony. All of the bees there are her children. :)
drones: mate with the queens. queen: mate with the drones make new bees. worker: they build , clean , protect hive , care for young and groom queen.
In that there are male and female bees, yes. The queen and all worker bees are female, and the drones are male, but the drones only mate with a queen, and the queen only mates once in her life, albeit with up to twenty drones. Drones mate only once -- they die afterwards.
The only purpose of the drone bees is to mate with the queen.
the male honey bees mate with the new queen
Queen bees do not kill their mates. Generally, a potential queen bee will mate with 12 to 15 drone males before beginning to lay eggs.
The drones (male bees) don't work. Their only purpose is to mate with a virgin queen.
When she is about five to seven days old a queen will leave the hive on a mating flight. She will mate with up to twenty drones then return to the hive. This is the only time she will mate. Worker bees are all female, but never mate. Drones (males) mate once only, then they die.
Females, males are only meant to mate with the queen.
Drones. Drones are male bees and account for about 1% of the bees in a honey bee colony. Their only purpose is to mate with a virgin queen.