Only drone brood

sweet bee · March 11, 2012, 07:59:10 PM

I checked on my two hives today and found only drone larve! I did see the queen in one hive but not the other (she may have been there but the bees were a little testy today so we couldn't linger too long! Is this anything to be alarmed about?

I'll post some pics once I remember how :-D

~Angie

backyard warrior · March 11, 2012, 08:17:33 PM

If you only have drone brood and no worker brood u have a problem for sure a queen thats not properly mated or no queen and laying workers. Chris

AllenF · March 11, 2012, 08:44:49 PM

Get us some pics if you can. Just to make sure it is drone brood.

Vance G · March 11, 2012, 11:29:10 PM

From that picture, you have a failing queen. I would rub all those tall drone cells down or you will have a hive full of them. If you think you have enough bees to raise a new queens brood until they can be replaced by that brood in a month, requeen. If not, shake them out and preserve the equioment until you can get new colonies of bees.

ShaneJ · March 11, 2012, 11:32:14 PM

Can you find the queen at all?

If not you should shake all the bees out and requeen. Or add a frame of eggs or 2.

BlueBee · March 12, 2012, 01:40:10 AM

Sorry, but this does not look good at all.

However it is good to find such a problem early enough so you can fix it before the existing workers die off.

FRAMEshift · March 12, 2012, 11:34:57 AM

Quote from: BlueBee on March 12, 2012, 01:40:10 AM
However it is good to find such a problem early enough so you can fix it before the existing workers die off.

I agree. Check to make sure you don't have multiple eggs in the cells, which would indicate laying workers. If you don't have laying workers, I would find the existing queen and pinch her. Then add a new queen or queen cells.

If you do have laying workers, add a frame of eggs per week and keep doing that until they start queen cells.

sweet bee · March 12, 2012, 10:22:04 PM

Quote from: FRAMEshift on March 12, 2012, 11:34:57 AM
Quote from: BlueBee on March 12, 2012, 01:40:10 AM
However it is good to find such a problem early enough so you can fix it before the existing workers die off.

I agree. Check to make sure you don't have multiple eggs in the cells, which would indicate laying workers. If you don't have laying workers, I would find the existing queen and pinch her. Then add a new queen or queen cells.

If you do have laying workers, add a frame of eggs per week and keep doing that until they start queen cells.

I did find the queen in one hive but wasn't able to check throughly in the second hive- and looking at the photos, it doesn't look like there is more than 1 larve in the cells. Vance suggested that I rub the drone cell off to keep from having a hive full of them, could I just replace those frames with new foundation?? My next concern is finding someone with mated queens at this time. I was told it's too early to order queens. Any suggestions?

~Angie

FRAMEshift · March 12, 2012, 11:03:37 PM

Quote from: sweet bee on March 12, 2012, 10:22:04 PM
could I just replace those frames with new foundation??

Yes. You aren't losing anything at this point and removing those frames will kill the varroa that are concentrated in the drone cells.

QuoteMy next concern is finding someone with mated queens at this time. I was told it's too early to order queens. Any suggestions?

You are living in the honey bee capital of the country. :-D South Georgia is where all the package bees come from so I'll bet you can find queens (especially since this spring has been so warm) But all you really need is a frame of eggs. There are plenty of drones around to mate with the queen your hive raises.

Also, I imagine that there are some swarms starting to fly in South Georgia. You might put out some swarm traps.

Angie, are both of your hives full of drone comb? It's very strange that both of your queens would go drone-only at the same time. Did your queens come from the same supplier at the same time? Have you had these queens since last spring?

sweet bee · March 12, 2012, 11:40:20 PM

@ Frameshift-

Each hive has about 3 frames that look like the pics. Yes, both queens came from the same supplier last spring. They said that it was too early to purchase a queen and getting a frame of brood may be difficult to get as well. My aunt has a couple of hives and removes swarms. And thinks that she could get me some brood soon. She said her hive looked like mine a few weeks ago but she doesn't see many drones now. I will also check with my local bee club to see if anyone has any mated queens.

This is my first year beekeeping and there is still so much to learn! Watching and tending the bees is what gives me the most enjoyment. Honey is a nice perk but not the most important thing for me.

Thanks to everyone for all the helpful advice- keep it coming :)

~Angie