Eviction Notice

[Understudy]

Well I got my hive boxes and put together a medium and and added it to hive #1. While I was doing it. Hive #2 started going nuts bees started coming out of the entrance in droves. I thought it was going to be a case of the afternoon flying frenzy I am use to seeing. It wasn't

The bees really didn't start to take flight they just start moving in a weird unison like manner. I though Oh crap I have lost the queen. Then I watched for a while and I notced that there were a lot of drones at the entrance flying off. The drones were being kicked out!

It was incredible to watch I probably saw 10 -15 drones being asked to leave. A couple of them would sneak back into the entrance only to be pushed out again. It was really neat. The bees didn't bite or act mean they just kept nudging the drones out until it was forced to fly away. I tried to get some images but they don't look good.

I knew the hive had drones the first generation in the permacomb was drones, I expected that. I still had workers in the orginal brood frames.

You can see the pic of the drone cells in the permacomb here:


My only problem is that these are drones from hive #2 which is a hot hive I need to requeen it. I don't need males with aggressive dna out their mating with virgin queens, everyone will think they have AHBs when they don't.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

[Michael Bush]

>The bees really didn't start to take flight they just start moving in a weird unison like manner.

The "washboarding" dance?

>I notced that there were a lot of drones at the entrance flying off. The drones were being kicked out!

They will if there are too many drones or not enough resources.  So either there is a dearth or an overabundance of drones.

>I knew the hive had drones the first generation in the permacomb was drones, I expected that. I still had workers in the orginal brood frames.

PermaComb is the equvelant of 5.1mm.  No queen will lay drones in that unless she's shooting blanks (infertile).  Otherwise it's a laying worker.  The difference is the drone laying queen will lay singles and the workers will lay triples and quadruples and more.  Have you seen the queen?  Is there any worker brood at all?  If so, then she's not unmated, just failed. You need a queen.

>My only problem is that these are drones from hive #2 which is a hot hive I need to requeen it. I don't need males with aggressive dna out their mating with virgin queens, everyone will think they have AHBs when they don't.

The queen tends to fly further than the drones so she tends (no guarentees of course) not to mate with drones from your apiary.

If #2 is a hot hive, I'd requeen it now and while you're at it requeen the one with the drones in the PermaComb.

[Understudy]

>The bees really didn't start to take flight they just start moving in a weird unison like manner.

The "washboarding" dance?

I have not heard this term before.

>I notced that there were a lot of drones at the entrance flying off. The drones were being kicked out!

They will if there are too many drones or not enough resources.  So either there is a dearth or an overabundance of drones.

Definitly an overabundance of drones.

>I knew the hive had drones the first generation in the permacomb was drones, I expected that. I still had workers in the orginal brood frames.

PermaComb is the equvelant of 5.1mm.  No queen will lay drones in that unless she's shooting blanks (infertile).  Otherwise it's a laying worker.  The difference is the drone laying queen will lay singles and the workers will lay triples and quadruples and more.  Have you seen the queen?  Is there any worker brood at all?  If so, then she's not unmated, just failed. You need a queen.

I have never seen the queen for this hive. I have tried many times to find her. She is there because there are also worker cells being laid in the deep frames.
I definitly have drone cells in the permacomb. I read somewhere that the permcomb will have drones the first generation because the cells are not lined with wax after that they will be workers. I will have to go back in to make sure that I am getting workers.

>My only problem is that these are drones from hive #2 which is a hot hive I need to requeen it. I don't need males with aggressive dna out their mating with virgin queens, everyone will think they have AHBs when they don't.

The queen tends to fly further than the drones so she tends (no guarentees of course) not to mate with drones from your apiary.

My concern is not my hives as it is other peoples hives and feral hives that people will think are AHB when they are not.

If #2 is a hot hive, I'd requeen it now and while you're at it requeen the one with the drones in the PermaComb.

It is the same hive.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

[Understudy]

Aplogies to you Michael.
I listen to what you said after I read it again and I went back into the hive.
The queen is failing. She is laying worker cells but not as many  as she is laying of drone cells. I am going to replace her Sunday if I can get a queen .

I am going to have to find her.

The one nasty thing about the permacomb is all the comb they make between the hives gets torn apart when you lift the hive bodies.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

[Michael Bush]

>I have not heard this term before.

Try a search on here or in a bee book on "washboarding"

>I have never seen the queen for this hive. I have tried many times to find her. She is there because there are also worker cells being laid in the deep frames.

>I definitly have drone cells in the permacomb.

> I read somewhere that the permcomb will have drones the first generation because the cells are not lined with wax after that they will be workers.

They will make drone cells between the boxes.  Maybe that's what you read.  They will not lay drones in the plastic of that size.  The queen measures the size of the cell (not the structure of the cell) with her front legs and that triggers the fertilization of the eggs. She cannot control this.  If she injures one of her front legs she will become a drone layer.

>My concern is not my hives as it is other peoples hives and feral hives that people will think are AHB when they are not.

These bees may be angry because their queen is failing, not because of the genetics of the drones.

>It is the same hive.

They are angry because they are failing.  I'm surprised they haven't already superceded the queen.

[Apis629]

WASHBOARDING:

Only populous hive "washboard" and it consists of many moving back and forth in unison, licking an area (usually around the enterence).  It's part of hive cleaning, just as they clean the inside and line it with propolis, they clean the dirt and contaminants off of the outside.  On interesting thing is that after a summer rainstorm, the back half of the box will have dirt splatter but, the front and sides closest to it are still a bright white.