DRONES , DRONES , DRONES

[Gware]

I had a hive swarm twice and I inspected it to see what was left. I did find a queen and some new larvae, however I did not see many workers but lots of drones. There were some workers but not in mass numbers. But the drones thousands, it looked like . Could anyone explain the hive situation here.

[MrILoveTheAnts]

Possibly a laying worker, or unfertilized queen. Is there to much Drone Cell?

Drones don't take food from the hive, they only accept it from the workers. I believe the workers don't even feed them when there's to many in the hive so they slowly migrate out.

[Gware]

I dont think I would know what drone cell looks like. If I did have a unmated queen will drones from other hives follow her?

[Scadsobees]

I have a hive like that, swarmed 4x I think.  They were really strong and produced a lot of drones, but then many many workers left with a few drones, leaving most of the drones behind.

If you have a queen and she's laying, I'd say they are on their way back up, she is newly mated and laying, but they are probably not going to get back to honey surplus producing strength.

I haven't figured out what to do with my hive yet.  If I should consolidate comb, combine with one of my split, or ???.  We'll see, I hate to combine since they are all young queens.

Rick