A messy business

[RobKing]

On looking into my hives in the last couple of days, for the first time, there has been a lot of drone cells being created at the bottom of the brood frames. It makes it difficult to spot any queen cells when this is the case. I have been removing the extra comb, whether drones are present or not as a tidy up. Obviously, I check to ensure that the queen is around. How do I keep the nurse bees away whilst I am doing this 'trimming'? Do I shake them off, obviously not if the queen is present on a frame. It can be a bit of a messy business but I do look at the drones to see if any varroa are present and I have seen a few, so am now taking action with flumethrin / hiveclear.

 

[oliver90owner]

Deleted. Wrong section.

 

[Cazza]

Sorry Rob but I would not bother "tidying up." Drones are valuable and I would rather they were placed on the bottom of the frame than on the comb. Personally I think this is a waste of time. Others will, I am sure disagree.

Gentle smoke will move the bees off if needed or even a gentle blow of breath.

Drone and queen cells do look different, perhaps as you grow in experience, this will cease to be a problem.

Cazza

 

[Finman]

.
It is good to cut crone combs off that mites have not change to grow there.
But you have much bees, if they have build combs under the frames.

Give a box of foundations under the brood that bees can enlarge their hive.

You may leave a empty zone or two inside the frame that bees can rear "officially" drones, because they do them however.

 

[BeeJayBee]

Trying to read between the lines of your question to work out where this drone brood is being built.

If the drone cells are being built below the frame bottom bars it suggests there's too much space and/or the frames are the wrong size for the box - but some people encourage building of drone brood by using shorter frames, this is to trap varroa. The brood is sliced off using the hive tool - do it above the brood box so the bees go back inside, then inspect the brood with an uncapping fork to check the varroa load. This is explained in detail the FERA leaflet "Integrated Pest Management for Varroa Control" which you can find on the lower part of this page https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/beebase/index.cfm?pageid=167

If the frames are the right size and they're building below them it hints that the colony might need more space. If you're on standard national you might need to think about going either brood and a half or double brood.

You can brush off stray bees or just shake them into the brood box. It's unlikely the queen will be there, but if she is I'm sure you'll spot her. She'll scurry down downwards quickly, because she prefers to be inside, in the dark.