Hi All and Happy New Year,
My Question is, does anyone know why there is an increase in Drone activity on Hotter Days?
I have been observing that there is approx 6-8 Drones constantly flying in and out of the hive only on hotter Day and no activity on cooler days when the temp is around 22-26 Deg.
Cheers
Hi George, thank you & same to you. That’s an interesting question. I recently did some reading about DCAs. Apparently they spend the whole or most of the time flying in the DCA. It would make sense that the drones probably come back to refuel more often during warmer weather. That’s all I can think of. There must be drone activity during those temps you mentioned otherwise queens wouldn’t get mated.
PS. after further reading, it could be that you are observing drone cleansing & orientation flights.
I agree with Jeff. Warm weather is the time that hives are more likely to want to swarm and so the number of drones in a colony increases to mate with virgin queens; so it is a given you will see more drone activity, even in Melbourne’s unpredictable weather.
A nice video clip of a busy hive.
Cheers
Maybe just hot in the hive and they get kicked out but have to come back to feed.