4/9/17
4:00 PM- I caught a single queen (#1) in my neighborhood. I suspect she is infertile as she still has her wings. Currently in a test tube set-up.
Temperature: 65 F
4/10/17
12:30-1:30 PM- Witnessed my first nuptial flight during my lunch break. When I stepped out of my work building, I saw a female and male alate mating (#2). I followed a trail of flying male alates and ended up on a grassy hill, where I saw hundreds of males flying in the air. Going further up the hill, I discovered a nest entrance- workers and female alates were emerging from the entrance. It seems that male alates would swarm first, after which female alates would follow. I spent an hour outside and caught queens #3-10 during that time. Queens #9 and #10 were dug up from their founding chambers and had already removed their wings.
I put 1 de-alate queen in a THA atom nest and the rest were put into test tubes. Two of the winged queens removed their wings later that night.
Temperature: 73 F
4/11/17
12:30-2:30 PM- Same colony had another flight. Less males alates and more female ones were seen this time. The flight itself lasted an hour and a half. Caught 12 more queens, 3 of which were dug up from founding chambers.
I put them all into test tubes and put two de-alate queens into the same tube.
Temperature: 83 F
Currently I've color-coded the queens with post-it flags.
Red- Caught as de-alate
Yellow- Caught with male attached
Blue- Winged queens without males attached
Green- Old original (Queen #1) unsure if mated.
Orange- Caught with wings, later removed wings
They are currently stored between egg crate foam and inside my desk drawer. My room temp is at 67 F. I may consider moving them to a cooler area if temps reach >80 F later this week.
