Drones and foundationless frames

[The Bix]

I have two hives that are overrun with drones.  Both hives also have more foundationless frames in them than the others...is there a connection?  What am I doing wrong?

[Jim134]

What is a overrun with drones 10% 50% ???
Do you have queen cells ???
Do you have vrgin queens ???
Do you have a drone laying queen ???


       BEE HAPPY Jim 134  :)

[Michael Bush]

It's all about quantifying... 20% this time of year would be normal...

[The Bix]

What is a overrun with drones 10% 50% ???

I'd say it's a solid 25%

Do you have queen cells ???

No

Do you have vrgin queens ???

Don't think so, but not sure.

Do you have a drone laying queen ???

She seems to lay a lot of drone eggs, but not exclusively, there are a few frames with just worker cells in it.


       BEE HAPPY Jim 134  :)

[The Bix]

It's all about quantifying... 20% this time of year would be normal...

didn't know that, my other hives don't have nearly as many drones, not even close.

[harvey]

I have six hives that are all foundation less.  Just finished inspecting.  I see eggs and larva in all of them cept one i started from a nuc?  I also see a lot of drone comb.  More than what I saw last year in one hive that had foundation.  However along with the drone comb is a lot of worker cells capped.  Looks a lot different on their own comb though.  less uniform as far as where the drone cells are. 

[Michael Bush]

Drones drift, so the number of drones is more related to how many the hive will tolerate than how many they raised.  A queenless hive or one with a virgin will tolerate more than a queenright hive with a laying queen.  Still I would look.  You shouldn't seem more than 20% drone cells and those should start dropping off over the next month (at least in my climate).

[Jim134]

If the hives have queen cells or vrgin queens drones will come for up to 35 miles away.


    BEE HAPPY Jim 134  :)