Wow, I have never gotten so many answers to a single question before! Thanks everyone!
So it is just like honey bees. Drones congregate in what we call a DCA, drone congregation area, a place that they go to every day hoping to get lucky and then die. It is picked by landmarks, usually at the end of, or confluence of tree lines, creeks, or cliffs. They will fly at about 80 to 100 feet hoping for a virgin queen on her mating flight to find them. Queens usually mate with five to fifteen drones over the course of a few days. Once she has collected enough semen to last her lifetime she will settle down to the business of egg-laying.
Bees like most animals are triggered by available food supplies for their young being available at the proper time. The first pollen and nectar will induce the bees to start feeding the newly hatched larva instead of eating the eggs. One way the bees control the number of bees in a hive is to regulate the number of eggs hatching. The queen will lay eggs almost all year, the bees will eat the eggs if there is not sufficient food stores coming into the hive. It is also those first fresh pollen and nectars that kicks the queen into high gear laying eggs. This sometimes backfires on them when a late cold snap will deprive them of being able to go out and collect food for the young and if there is not any stores left in the hive the colony can die.
It has always been my assumption and observations that nature provides the food sources for the young at the proper time. Whether it is food sources available or daylight that triggers hormonal responses to mate, the young are normally born or hatched when there is the required nutrition available.
Now owls on the other hand have me a bit confused as they incubate their young in February, perhaps it is easier for them to find food at that time of year.
