Drones in the nectar

[CoolBees]

My hive that had the most Drones this yr was booming - and shortly after, mite counts exploded. The hive nearly crashed. This process happened in 10 weeks - from January buildup to Crash-ready mid April. Right now all the supers (abut 50% uncapped/uncured) are in the freezer - while I treat, to save this hive.

It occurs to me that a QE might keep the drones out of the Stores, and thereby maybe reduce the outside influx of Mites into the hive ... and also maybe net a larger honey crop.

Does anyone know how much Nectar Drones consume?

Does this approach make sense?

Thanks
Alan

[van from Arkansas]

Cool, the drones are fed by the nurse bees so a QE for drones probably would not be successful in preventing drone vrs nectar consumption.  I cannot say how much a drone consumes but it must be a lot as the drones fly constantly in search of queens at the drone congregation areas.

[CoolBees]

Good point Van.

I guess my thinking was more along the lines of Drones coming from other hives. This hive had high qtys of drones coming to it before it began hatching it's own. It also produced a lot of drones. 6 weeks ago, every frame of open nectar was so covered with drones that it was hard to find workers in the supers. That was 3+ 8-frame med boxes (24+ frames) covered in drones. They were hard to move. It seemed to me that they were feeding themselves - steadily slurping up nectar. ... but I could be wrong about that.

I was thinking - if I could limit their movements to the lower 3 boxes, maybe the hive would only "tolerate" a certain number of them (mostly those raised there), and kick the rest out. ... thus maybe limiting the impact of mites being brought in from the outside. ... just thoughts really ...

[Donovan J]

Good point Van.

I guess my thinking was more along the lines of Drones coming from other hives. This hive had high qtys of drones coming to it before it began hatching it's own. It also produced a lot of drones. 6 weeks ago, every frame of open nectar was so covered with drones that it was hard to find workers in the supers. That was 3+ 8-frame med boxes (24+ frames) covered in drones. They were hard to move. It seemed to me that they were feeding themselves - steadily slurping up nectar. ... but I could be wrong about that.

I was thinking - if I could limit their movements to the lower 3 boxes, maybe the hive would only "tolerate" a certain number of them (mostly those raised there), and kick the rest out. ... thus maybe limiting the impact of mites being brought in from the outside. ... just thoughts really ...

How old is your queen? Usually when the queens get old and run out of sperm they'll start laying drone brood. Is there any worker brood in the hive?

[TheHoneyPump]

Opportunity knocks. Get a set of queen cells started and set out the mating nucs!
There are times when having a lot of drones is a GOOD thing.

[BeeMaster2]

Having a lot of drones in your hives does not do your virgin queens any good unless you put the mating nucs a mile away from your hives. Then if the queens are from your hives they will end up mating with their brothers.
I have 30 some hives here but until gallberry season, almost no hives near me for 20 miles. I have a hard time getting queens mated here in the early spring because they out fly the drones.

Jim Altmiller

[CoolBees]

How old is your queen? Usually when the queens get old and run out of sperm they'll start laying drone brood. Is there any worker brood in the hive?

Xerox - she's exactly 1 yr old this month. Drones started invading this hive in mid January. Dec 31 alcohol wash was 3 mites - after a 5 week OAV routine.. By mid April, the mite count was astronomical.

For comparison: my other hives didn't have the same high level of open nectar, didn't have the Drone invasion, and didn't have the extreme mite buildup.

Hope this helps.