Drones, drones and more drones. Is there a problem?

njoylife10 · April 23, 2012, 03:38:26 PM

Drones cells are everywhere. We have had lots of build up and are expanding rapidly. A few weeks ago we spotted the queen there was tons of brood and eggs at that time. We took some of the eggs for a queenless hive to raise their own queen. (which they have done) Now a few weeks later they are raising nothing but drones. In the top box they have at least 3-4 frames of drones. I didn't look in the bottom box this time.

Should I be concerned that this hive has gone queenless or has a laying worker? There was only one egg in each cell and the laying pattern was wonderful. Or do they just go through a cycle where they raise a bunch of drones? Should I remove and freeze them to decrease their numbers?

Thanks in advance to all those smarter than me ;)

njoylife10 · April 23, 2012, 03:45:21 PM

Another question? I have some queen cells growing in another hive. Would it cause more of a problem, if I put one of them in this hive just incase?

Kathyp · April 23, 2012, 04:09:33 PM

if you have worker brood at different stages AND you have lots of drone brood, it shouldn't be a problem. i have noticed that some years my hives raise tons of drones and some years they don't. i figure they know what they are doing. some people like to freeze drone brood to kill mites. i find that the bees just raise more drones and removing them will only waste resources.

you probably need to get back in there and see how much worker brood, capped and uncapped you have. make sure the queen has plenty of room to lay.

as for the other hive, if they are true queen cells and not just queen cups, you may need to consider splitting that hive to avoid a swarm. bees will often start and remove queen cups, but when they are raising queen, it's time for you to do something and a split is usually the best option.

Jim134 · April 23, 2012, 06:32:06 PM

Quote from: njoylife10 on April 23, 2012, 03:38:26 PM
Drones cells are everywhere. We have had lots of build up and are expanding rapidly. A few weeks ago we spotted the queen there was tons of brood and eggs at that time. We took some of the eggs for a queenless hive to raise their own queen. (which they have done) Now a few weeks later they are raising nothing but drones. In the top box they have at least 3-4 frames of drones. I didn't look in the bottom box this time.

Should I be concerned that this hive has gone queenless or has a laying worker? There was only one egg in each cell and the laying pattern was wonderful. Or do they just go through a cycle where they raise a bunch of drones? Should I remove and freeze them to decrease their numbers?

Thanks in advance to all those smarter than me ;)

What present is drones cells ??? 10%,20% 30%

20% as about right 1 drones to 5 workers on live bees

BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)

ShaneJ · April 23, 2012, 06:55:37 PM

You didn't happen to move your queen to the other hive on the frame of eggs?

njoylife10 · April 23, 2012, 08:36:55 PM

I would guess there were about 10-20% drones. So it sounds like I'm probably all right, I just need to keep an eye on them.

Im pretty sure I didn't move the queen. I was watching very carefully and flung nearly every bee off that frame when I moved it.

njoylife10

AllenF · April 23, 2012, 08:52:37 PM

See the drone brood at the very top and bottom of the frame. A very good looking frame.

cdanderson · April 23, 2012, 08:53:33 PM

That's beautiful, you are ok. And, I agree that I personally dont like to freeze drones for mite control.

Michael Bush · April 24, 2012, 12:32:57 AM

20% is quite normal this time of year.

RZRBCK BEE · April 24, 2012, 10:35:10 AM

Quote from: ShaneJ on April 23, 2012, 06:55:37 PM
You didn't happen to move your queen to the other hive on the frame of eggs?

This was my thought also. It happened to me once.

njoylife10 · April 24, 2012, 04:13:51 PM

UPDATE: Went in and gave it a second look. Found the queen! Big and beautiful! So instead of adding queen cells to that hive, I split out a nuc. Awesome!

Thanks all for the help!

The Bix · May 03, 2012, 11:57:19 AM

Quote from: Jim 134 on April 23, 2012, 06:32:06 PM

What present is drones cells ??? 10%,20% 30%

20% as about right 1 drones to 5 workers on live bees

BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)

So Jim, if the drones exceed that 20% threshold, would you re-queen? One of my hives that was building up nicely earlier in the Spring is now being overrun by drones. I would say it's closer to 30-35% drones now. I didn't completely tear down the hive, just the upper layer of a two-deep brood chamber. The queen is still in there, I saw her and she is still laying worker eggs. She was a supersedure queen that I first noticed late winter 2010, so she is starting her third year.

Jim134 · May 03, 2012, 01:17:16 PM

Quote from: The Bix on May 03, 2012, 11:57:19 AM

So Jim, if the drones exceed that 20% threshold, would you re-queen? One of my hives that was building up nicely earlier in the Spring is now being overrun by drones. I would say it's closer to 30-35% drones now. I didn't completely tear down the hive, just the upper layer of a two-deep brood chamber. The queen is still in there, I saw her and she is still laying worker eggs. She was a supersedure queen that I first noticed late winter 2010, so she is starting her third year.

On a 2 year old queen laying 25% and above (drones) I would re-queen . Just my $0.02

BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)

L Daxon · May 03, 2012, 06:47:13 PM

Seems like I have lots more drones this year than the past two. One hive had a full frame of them front and back so I pull and froze it for mite control. That hive still had tones of drones left. I think that queen was getting older and they eventually superseded her.

While i don't like feeding drones, I basically let the girls determine when they have too many, and I do see batches of them get kicked out from time to time.