Drone-ocide?

Hethen57 · May 27, 2009, 01:50:54 AM

Over the weekend I inspected my hive and noticed an abundance of drones and drone cells (but still a small fraction of regular capped brood). I saw the marked queen and larva, so thats not an issue. I used the "search" function and found that this was common in Spring. Today when I was watching the hive entrance, I noticed an abundance of dead Drones in front and watched one stumble out and off the front porch, missing a leg or two (no mites on any of them). Do you think the hive is just culling Drones, or could this be a sign of a problem? I cleaned up the dead bees a few days ago, but now this one hive has mostly dead drones in front.

Hethen57 · May 27, 2009, 12:07:26 PM

As a follow-up, I was watching the entrance early this morning and saw the bees dragging out more drones. It appears the drones are still in fetal position and not moving much, if at all. My guess is that they may be aborting the drones before they hatch. It is probably normal bee-havior, but just checking for confirmation or for more information on what they are doing...it is very interesting.

Grandma_DOG · May 27, 2009, 03:58:07 PM

Quote from: Hethen57 on May 27, 2009, 12:07:26 PM
As a follow-up, I was watching the entrance early this morning and saw the bees dragging out more drones. It appears the drones are still in fetal position and not moving much, if at all. My guess is that they may be aborting the drones before they hatch. It is probably normal bee-havior, but just checking for confirmation or for more information on what they are doing...it is very interesting.

It may be hygenic behavior if there were mites laid in the drones cells. What kind of queen are you on?

Hethen57 · May 27, 2009, 04:17:20 PM

I have Carnie queens.

Brian D. Bray · May 28, 2009, 03:16:59 PM

When a hive gets too many drones (about 15-20%) they will abort the excess, usually by removing the larvae and capped pupae 1st and then moving up to the adult drones. They will the begin to develop more drones again in order to have some on hand for a supercedure or swarm. The hive operates this way until fall when all the drones a ejected from the hive one way or the other.

Hethen57 · May 28, 2009, 04:30:41 PM

They are still clearing out those "almost ready to hatch" drones. It's kind of sad because some of them are at the point where they can move limbs, but not strong enough to move their body. I think they went slightly overboard with drones out of the gate (probably a natural response in Spring), but it appears they are adjusting. The drone cells seems to be in the honey/pollen band area above the worker brood, so I'm guessing they will repack with honey/pollen now that it is plentiful. These hives are kind of like a new child....where the newbee parent is so amazed with everything they do (and everyone else thinks..."relax, been there, done that, pretty typical")...haha :)
-Mike

annette · May 28, 2009, 09:28:19 PM

I think this is amazing behavior and I would have been concerned also. Perhaps my hives have done this at some point and I just missed this, but I think it is unusual behavior. I am always learning new things and this was one of them.

Annette a 3rd year beekeeper

Ernest T. Bass · May 28, 2009, 11:17:25 PM

I noticed a few beat-up looking drones being tossed out the last time I inspected my hives as well.. I was thinking of asking about it, but you saved me the trouble. :)

Pond Creek Farm · May 28, 2009, 11:43:48 PM

I am running natural cell in a couple of nucs I bought this spring, and they are both building drone comb to the outsides to beat the band. Much of it is capped and should be hatching soon. I will watch the hives to see if ours demonstrate this behavior. I agree with Annette that it will be most interesting to see.