drone brood on frames

[alice-edmund]

I seem to have either laying worker(s) or a drone laying queen in both of two swarms collected earlier this year (I started last year). Will they recover themselves from this (make a new queen or whatever) - or do i need to do something?

 

[Erichalfbee]

No they won't sort themselves out. You will have to do it. Action depends on which it is.
DLQ you will have to find and kill her then re-queen
LWs might make themselves a new queen if you introduce open brood frames. One at a time to see what happens and maybe four or five may be needed.
Some folk empty the hive out in the apiary and hope the laying workers don't find their way home, then re-queen.
What's the brood pattern like?

 

[enrico]

I seem to have either laying worker(s) or a drone laying queen in both of two swarms collected earlier this year (I started last year). Will they recover themselves from this (make a new queen or whatever) - or do i need to do something?

Seems a silly question but why do you think that? What does the brood look like? I only ask because you are in the beginners section and ...... Mistakes can be made by beginners! Hope you understand and don't think me condescending
E

 

[Davelin]

In a word... NO

If there is only drone brood then there is no way they can raise a queen.

If it were me I would try to decide which I had; if the brood is in a fairly regular pattern then it is most probably a drone laying queen. If you can find the queen and remove her then you could introduce a new queen, either bought, begged or raised yourself. If you have a healthy hive then a frame of eggs from that would enable them to raise a queen. Some people will say that queens raised this way are no good, but I have had some good ones.

If the laying pattern is more sporadic, and you have multiple eggs, and eggs down the sides of cells, then it is most likely laying workers.

Best course of action is to throw all the bees in a nearby hedge and let them find their way back into any hive they can.

 

[alice-edmund]

It looks like laying workers to me from the spotty pattern then - I must have lost/damaged the queens in some way when I collected the swarms. Oh well.

 

[ratcatcher]

It looks like laying workers to me from the spotty pattern then - I must have lost/damaged the queens in some way when I collected the swarms. Oh well.

so it's all drone brood?

 

[Apple]

The ONLY use for collected swarms ( unless you can be absolutely sure of their origin) is to bolster existing colonies by culling the queen and merging... after isolation and treating for all the obnoxious pests and disease they may bring into the apiary.

In comparison to the price of 580ml of petrol, bringing them into you apiary is a no brainer!
No such thing as a free meal anywhere on this planet?


James

 

[user 6228]

In a word... NO

If there is only drone brood then there is no way they can raise a queen.

If it were me I would try to decide which I had; if the brood is in a fairly regular pattern then it is most probably a drone laying queen. If you can find the queen and remove her then you could introduce a new queen, either bought, begged or raised yourself. If you have a healthy hive then a frame of eggs from that would enable them to raise a queen. Some people will say that queens raised this way are no good, but I have had some good ones.

If the laying pattern is more sporadic, and you have multiple eggs, and eggs down the sides of cells, then it is most likely laying workers.

Best course of action is to throw all the bees in a nearby hedge and let them find their way back into any hive they can.

though have had one side of frame almost all drone ... and the Queen then laid up more frames of workers... more than one inspection needed to make deductions

 

[Hawklord]

though have had one side of frame almost all drone ... and the Queen then laid up more frames of workers... more than one inspection needed to make deductions

I have had the same, and wondered if it was the comb that was at fault.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

The ONLY use for collected swarms ( unless you can be absolutely sure of their origin) is to bolster existing colonies by culling the queen and merging... after isolation and treating for all the obnoxious pests and disease they may bring into the apiary.

In comparison to the price of 580ml of petrol, bringing them into you apiary is a no brainer!
No such thing as a free meal anywhere on this planet?


James

That's a real glass half empty attitude! By all means apply sensible hygiene precautions, but to date all of the swarms I have collected have been healthy and with time/encouragement become productive colonies.
Don't forget swarming is the bees natural method of colony reproduction.

 

[Erichalfbee]

likewise
I have a swarm which appeared six feet away from my hives but came from none of my colonies.
Hived on 17th June and now has three full supers.

 

[pargyle]

The ONLY use for collected swarms ( unless you can be absolutely sure of their origin) is to bolster existing colonies by culling the queen and merging... after isolation and treating for all the obnoxious pests and disease they may bring into the apiary.

In comparison to the price of 580ml of petrol, bringing them into you apiary is a no brainer!
No such thing as a free meal anywhere on this planet?


James

Rubbish ... my bees started out as a swarm of possibly feral bees - and they have done very well and continue to do very well. I know lots of people who have started beekeeping with a swarm and it's a great (and cheap) way to start beekeeping. For a beginner watching a colony develop from a swarm is a very interesting and enthralling experience - yes, learn to keep an eye open for potential diseases but it's not often that I've heard of swarms having inherent brood disease or heavy varroa infestation.

Equally useful to build your hive numbers - with the caveat that they are best quarantined before being added to an existing apiary.

Judging by one bee auction earlier this year and some very dodgy nucs that are being sold I'd suggest you are almost better off with a swarm - and I wouldn't be requeening until I'm sure there's a problem with the queen.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Rather a broad brush statement IMHO
Some of the best queens in my apiary are descended from a swarm I caught a few years ago - prolific, gentle, good foragers and the new queens don't muck about before getting mated!

 

[BeeJayBee]

The ONLY use for collected swarms ( unless you can be absolutely sure of their origin) is to bolster existing colonies by culling the queen and merging... after isolation and treating for all the obnoxious pests and disease they may bring into the apiary.

In comparison to the price of 580ml of petrol, bringing them into you apiary is a no brainer!
No such thing as a free meal anywhere on this planet?

You're intending to be controversial, but some won't realise that when they read your post in a couple of years time and will believe what you say.

The swarms that have arrived one of my apiaries this year have not been from my own colonies, but they will have come from colonies living within flying distance of that apiary.

Could you explain why these swarms should have either been isolated or treated with petrol, when drones from my own colonies will more than likely have been spending time in the originating colonies and, presumably, mine and other drones will have been wandering around covered with the self-same obnoxious pests and disease?

I do, though, agree that swarms from outside an apiary's flying area should perhaps be isolated before bringing them onto the site, but I do not agree that they should only ever be either destroyed or used to increase numbers of bees in existing colonies. Some of the best-adapted colonies of local bees arrive as swarms.