What Happens To Drones In The South?

[mtnb]

Huh. I had no idea. Is that something that grows wild then or do farmers plant it? ...oh, just googled it. It's a bush? Never heard of it. What does the honey look and taste like?

[BeeMaster2]

MT,
I do not have BP here in N FL but I have seen comb in hives where the bees are bringing it in. The wax in the hive turns a bright yellow. I have seen the same effect in my hives once but not sure where it came from. It may have been from BP that got planted and survived while we had those warm winters.
Jim

[swflcpl]

Was introduced as an ornamental and spread like wild fire down this way.  Like many persistent, unwanted plants, it is great for the bees.


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[mtnb]

Interesting! "BP not delicious" ~ this made me crack up! lol I had a dream about these things last night. lol My hubby and I were walking through the woods and came across a little pond and on it was this algea looking stuff and when I looked closer I saw red and yellow pepper clusters on the water. I got excited and yelled, I know those! They're Brazilian Peppers, and then I woke up. lol

[BeeMaster2]

MT,
I think you are spending way too many hours with your bees. 
We keep warning people, this hobby is very addictive, but nobody listens.   
Enjoy your bees.
Jim

[mtnb]

Looked in today and still have drones although no drone brood. Looks like their time is numbered. Jim, I'm afraid you're so very right. lol

[KeyLargoBees]

Other common name for BP is Florida Holley...it was planted because it gets those pretty red berries on it in the late Fall and early "winter" so has red berries on it around Christmas....but yes its horribly invasive and they are trying very hard to eradicate it in some areas in and around Everglades National Park....and not having much success...birds love the little red berries and eat and then "distribute" the seeds so its really hard to control.

[mtnb]

I still saw a drone yesterday! I was just sitting observing. It was about 42*F and one walked out onto the entrance board, kinda walked around for a few and went back in.

[KeyLargoBees]

42 degrees woof.....still 86 for highs here and the BP flow is going strong. Crazy activity and considering adding more honey supers LOL.

Wondering how Brazillian Pepper Mead is going to taste :-)

[mtnb]

Lol that is so crazy. We had our first snow on Monday here in the valley. Our wood stove's now on til next April. Lol You know, I've never had mead. We read about it when we studied the dark ages. I'll definitely make some one day. Hope it's good for ya. You seem to be swimming in BP down there. lol

Do you think I still have drones in the hive since I just saw one the day before the snow? Can they live overwinter if allowed? Do they really throw out every single one?

[chux]

I've only been through two winters with bees so far, but I've never seen a drone during the winter. Of course, I'm also not going in the hive unless we have a stretch of warmer days. In the late winter, when it starts warming up, I have been in there and seen no drones. I would guess that in climates where they kick the drones out, they kick all of them out. They were designed that way.

[Michael Bush]

I never used to see drones in the winter at all, but since I started keeping the feral bees I see at least a few in the hives in the winter.  The population of drones goes up and down throughout the year.  Winter is the low point. Swarm season is the high point.

[BeeMaster2]

I do not see drones in my observation hive during the winter. From October until sometime in February, not one. Even during the summer, if the hive is not full I do not see them unless they go into swarm mode, then they start making drones.
Jim

[mtnb]

Interesting. Thanks guys!

[jayj200]

To the OP we do realize kicked out means die right????

PC anyone

[Michael Bush]

>PC anyone

Yea.  Huber calls it "the massacre of the males."  A little further in he says:

"Therefore, a glass table was constructed, on which were put six hives with swarms of the same year; and, lying under it, we endeavoured to discover how the drones were destroyed. The invention succeeded to admiration. On the 4 of July, we saw the workers actually massacre the males, in the whole six swarms, at the same hour, and with the same peculiarities. The glass table was covered with bees full of animation, which flew upon the drones, as they came from the bottom of the hive; seized them by the antenna, the limbs, and the wings, and after having dragged them about, or, so to speak, after quartering them, they killed them by repeated stings directed between the rings of the belly. The moment that this formidable weapon reached them, was the last of their existence; they stretched their wings, and expired. At the same time, as if the workers did not consider them as dead as they appeared to us, they still stuck the sting so deep, that it could hardly be withdrawn, and these bees were obliged to turn upon themselves before the stings could be disengaged.

"Next day, having resumed our former position, we witnessed new scenes of carnage. During three hours, the bees furiously destroyed the males. They had massacred all their own on the preceding evening, but now attacked those which, driven from the neighbouring hives, had taken refuge amongst them. We saw them also tear some remaining nymphs from the combs; they greedily sucked all the fluid from the abdomen, and then carried them away. The following days no drones remained in the hives."--New Observations on the Natural History Of Bees Volume I by Fran?ois Huber, Letter VI

http://www.bushfarms.com/huber.htm#letter6

"getting kicked out" sounds so much gentler...