What happens during mating flight?

[MrHappy]

I don't mean the bees and the bees, I'm just wondering where the queen goes. When she finds the drones each day, does she go back to her hive each night or does she hide some where, or does she go to another hive to hide for the night? Does anyone know?

Also does anyone have a picture of a virgin queen? People say they are hard to see and tell the difference, I didn't know how hard.

[KQ6AR]

When she goes out to mate she is only gone an hour or two, then returns to her own hive.
She will fly as far as 6 miles to find a drone congregation area, Then mating takes place in the air.
She might go out to mate anywhere from 1-4 different days.

[sqkcrk]

I find virgin queens somewhat easy to spot. They don't look quite like workers and they tend to run around quickly. Sorry, I don't have a picture. Somebody else will post on, probably.

[MrHappy]

Ok, so at dusk she prob is in the hive and I might be able to find her. I tried cutting a few queen cells off a frame that had 10 and put two in a nuc box. I saw that even though they didn't stick to the frame I attached them to, they did both get opened. The 8 in the orig also go opened, but I figure only one or two of those are alive. Didn't know if I should just wait a few weeks because they were gone or if they should be in the hive each night.

Thanks, I'll try looking for them.