4 replies to this topic

[yoman503]

This is my first year I have started collecting queens and I was just wondering about what to do when alates decide to fly?

Do I just get my outworld outdoor and wait for them to fly?

[AntsMAN]

This rarely happens in captivity, but if it does yes just open your outworld and let them fly. Also it takes quite a few years for colony to produce alates.

[gcsnelling]

If it is a species not native your area you absolutely should not release the alates, even if native they should not be released.

Edited by gcsnelling, July 13 2016 - 5:32 PM.

[Reacker]

Feed them to your other ant colonies. Reduce, reuse, recycle.

[Runner12]

Regardless I would remove them. In polygynous species they aren't as big of a deal, but in monogyne species if they don't mate and leave the nest, strange things can happen.

I've had a few tear off their wings and behave like they were mated Queens to the point where the workers ended up killing all of them including their mother Queen like they would with a young colony that had been founded by multiple Queens. It also makes it difficult to tell which Queen is the original.