i know that you need drones for the virgin queen , and that the drones get kicked out of the hive in the winter, but do you need drones any other time of the year should i have one of those green plastic drone frames?
I've read that hives with however many drones around that they want are more productive. I don't know if this is because they are "happier" or just that they are wasting resources trying to replace the drone brood that the beekeeper removes. If you don't allow them to have drone comb they'll build it anyplace they can squeeze it in such as between the upper and lower boxes on the top bars. You could use the green drone comb or buy some drone foundation to put in a frame, but the cheapest/easiest thing to do is to insert a frame without foundation in between two fully drawn frames(if they're honey frames make sure they are capped) and since the bees desperately want to draw drone comb that is what they will start drawing first, so the foundationless frame will be almost 100 percent drone comb. The girls will be happy and if you decide to do drone capture as part of you IPM you can do that as well.
The only time you need to use the green drone frames is if you are a queen producer and need lots of drones or if you use the frame to keep your mites in check. That's when you take it out and freeze the frame to kill the capped drone brood with the mites inside. Don't let them hatch out or you will be swamped with mites.
They will manage to raise the same number of drones no matter what you do, but you might make it easier for them if you give them a drone frame or two... they will store honey in them when they have enough drones.