Are there still drone congregation areas this late in the season? I was wondering if the bees could requeen themselves if the queen was lost for whatever reason and they had available larvae. I have only one hive captured from a feral nest in may of this year, theyre doing well and growing but I was wondering in case I accidently killed her during an inspection or for any other reason.
my bees got rid of all drones about 6 weeks ago, in the space of 2 days there was not a trace of a drone anywhere, no live ones, no dead ones, is this normal or was it because the hive was in food stressed condition even though I was feeding 50/50 sugar water continously? I had read that the drones werent done away with until later in the fall.
so much to learn about these bees.
Jimmy
The only drones I have in my hives are the few that are still emerging from the cell, otherwise the bees are chasing them out or killing them off.
this has been a strange year, I usually have drones until later september first of october, I havent had drones for about 2 months now, I cant do late splits without buying queens, cant do any grafting, this year has been strange from the start with the weather, dry and hot!!!! Odds are if you have no drones in your hives that is probably a good sign there are no drones in your area, by looking at your hives can give you a tell-tell on what is going on in your area, always remember when raising a few queens with grafting or walk-a-way splits, if you have no dones in your hives then dont try to raise queens, odds are it will be a waste of time....
>Are there still drone congregation areas this late in the season?
Yes.
>I was wondering if the bees could requeen themselves if the queen was lost for whatever reason and they had available larvae.
Yes.
If it's warm enough for drones to fly, some queenless hive out there is still harboring some. My feral stock hives never kick them all out.
You must be in a dearth.
It should still be summertime down in Willis. I have a lot of drones around here.
My bees have been kicking out the drones the past week w/ vengence.
Quote from: KONASDAD on September 05, 2007, 11:19:30 AM
My bees have been kicking out the drones the past week w/ vengence.
I saw 1-3 in each of my hives yesterday.
I still see plenty of drones coming and going from my hives.