This is my first attempt at raising my own queens. I obviously missed a swarm queen cell, now my queen right hive has swarmed before queen cells could mature.... not too much of a problem, but now they are killing off drones and drone pupae in various stages. There aren't any mites visible on the dead pupae.... and there is still plenty of honey an pollen.... any ideas?
If we could figure out where you live? Someone can give you some.
Northern Cali and southern oregon. ;)
I'm not sure what you're asking, but I believe it's common for the old queen and part of the hive to leave before the queen cells mature. The queen/s will hatch and your hive is likely to get building up again after a bit of time.
Every single time my hives have swarmed, they ended up with queens and built up again. Good luck!
Thanks for generous offer to share mites... I appreciate it..... I'm not worried about this hive... I was just wondering if anyone knew why the drones were being killed
if the hive swarmed --maybe the drone brood got chilled--they are cleaning it out--RDY-B