I'm a new-bee to this forum with a "hobby" bee yard of 7 hives near Lawrence, KS. One of the hives has been a problem all year. It's population didn’t grow the way it should. I discovered the queen was missing, so I re-queened it. The population grew nicely and then it swarmed. I caught and re-hived the swarm, starting a new hive. I've since re-queened what remained in the old hive again, and am waiting the outcome. Throughout this ordeal, the hive always had (what I consider) an abnormally high drone population. Aside from that, there is no evidence of disease process of any kind and there is no mite problem. There isn’t a disproportionate number of drone-cell comb on the frames. I’m stumped.
Are these drones unusually small by any chance?
-r
Quote from: tony.d.baker on July 17, 2007, 03:02:29 PM
I'm a new-bee to this forum with a "hobby" bee yard of 7 hives near Lawrence, KS. One of the hives has been a problem all year. It's population didn’t grow the way it should. I discovered the queen was missing, so I re-queened it. The population grew nicely and then it swarmed. I caught and re-hived the swarm, starting a new hive. I've since re-queened what remained in the old hive again, and am waiting the outcome. Throughout this ordeal, the hive always had (what I consider) an abnormally high drone population. Aside from that, there is no evidence of disease process of any kind and there is no mite problem. There isn’t a disproportionate number of drone-cell comb on the frames. I’m stumped.
Dude,
I spent Saturday in Lawerence Kansas. I was sadly disappointed by the amoutn of local honey and local beekeepers. The candle shop (Waxmans) buy's local wax but he has to travel a bit to get it. You could corner an awesome market if you wanted to.
As far as the drones go. Some hives are like that. It does not sound like it is just laying drones. Also drones fly freely from any hive. They tend to gather at locations that supply them well. They may also gather where there tent to be virgin queens. You may want to see if there are queen cells in the hive. I would not freak out about it. It just may be the local watering hole for drones to come and tell lies about their exploits. Not that human males do anything like that.
Since she is laying a lot of drone cells also she may feel a need for them. If that was all she was laying then it would be an issue. but if she is laying both drone and worker cells she may also feel there is a need for them. I realize you requeened but maybe the hive feels there is a need for drones and requeening may not have changed that need. You could also try replacing the frames she is laying the drone cells in.
I think Lawerence is a nice area. I had a great time downtown.
Sincerely,
Brendhan
Kansas to San Fran via Denver. Frontier airlines has a wierd hub location
Thanks! Lawrence is a nice town. I'll keep the candle shop in mind!
TB
The drones appear normal size. There just seems to be a lot of them.
tb
When preparing to swarm they will raise a lot of drones. When queenless they will tolerate a lot of drones (which will drift from other hives).
If they don't have a lot of drone caps on worker brood then I wouldn't worry about it.