I have one frame of foundationless that is all drone cells. And going through my hive there are way to many drones, (in my opinion) they seem to be backfilling the cells with nectar and hopefully they will leave it that way but is it wise to just remove that frame altogether?
it's up to you, but my experience is that in a healthy hive, they will decide how many drones they need. you take them, they'll just make more. the key is healthy hive. if you have to many drones because of a failing queen, or missing queen, that problem needs to be addressed.
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have you looked, do you see mites in drone pupae?
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Quote from: Finski on June 02, 2013, 05:25:12 PM
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have you looked, do you see mites in drone pupae?
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I have opened up a couple. About 5 or so, but haven't seen any mites.
Quote from: kathyp on June 02, 2013, 05:15:57 PM
it's up to you, but my experience is that in a healthy hive, they will decide how many drones they need. you take them, they'll just make more. the key is healthy hive. if you have to many drones because of a failing queen, or missing queen, that problem needs to be addressed.
The queen is laying great. No problems there. They are pretty slow drawing out comb though. The queen is in both boxes laying and all the comb that is drawn is full of something.
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/06/03/e2ybebe7.jpg) here's one of my girls playing with one of the many drones.
We say about 10 bees chewing their way out at the same time today. Was real neat for the girls.
I've found that if I put a medium frame in my deeps they build drone comb off the bottom. I don't inspect I simply cull.
I have other foundationless frames and their drawing it out small cell.
I see them throwing out drones quite a bit that's why I was concerned about the drone comb.
Quote from: Psparr on June 02, 2013, 06:37:32 PM
Quote from: Finski on June 02, 2013, 05:25:12 PM
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have you looked, do you see mites in drone pupae?
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I have opened up a couple. About 5 or so, but haven't seen any mites.
it is not enough at all. But drones are better cast away. No reason to keep them.
I put the drone comb on the outside edges. If you pull them, the bees will draw more. They have a threshold of drone comb they are trying to meet. They also have a threshold of drones they are trying to meet. When the threshold of drone comb is reached they will stop building it. When the threshold of drones is met, they will stop raising drones in that comb and fill it with nectar instead. Since I don't want nectar in the middle of the brood nest (blocking the queen from free movement) I put them on the edges, which is where the bees would naturally put them if I weren't juggling frames around.
Thanks for the tips. Is there a reason they'd be kicking drones out one day and not the next. Maybe I know the answer already. Bees will be bees?