I'm sticking my neck out here, but I assume that's a queen that only mated with a couple of drones rather than 12 or more drones.
Larry
Larry, your neck is safe. :-D
I ask because I constantly hear about "poorly" mated queens, and somehow this is equated to queens running out of sperm, or the idea that a queen mating with only one drone will be a dud.
Yet I have heard many others, like Al Tarpy, for those who know who he is, mention that a queen mating with one drone has enough sperm for her lifetime. That multiple matings has to do with genetic diversity, and not some idea that a queen goes to a drone layer, a spotty pattern, or some other problem.
Simply put, if she mates one time, she will lay for a couple years, can have a perfect pattern, yet not have the genetic diversity to ward off viral or other disease.
And many times in discussing a drone laying queen, it is mentioned that she may be "poorly" mated. I'm just asking how is a queen "poorly" mated if one drone will do the job, less the diversity issue.