I went into my backyard to check on my hives and the whole backyard was full of bees in flight. One of the hives had bees all over the entrance. They were festooning and falling off into the grass below. There were clumps of mostly young bees on the ground. At first I thought they were swarming but then i saw thick layers of bees swirling into the hive entrance. This hive was made queen less after a split and I left three queen cells to hatch out. Today would have been the right time for a mating flight. Does the queen usually travel with such a large entourage?