Drone Laying queen?

[prana vallabha]

I have a drone laying queen in supers and below the Q- excluder a lying marked queen .... I know it's a drone laying Queen not workers as 1 egg per cell and the laying pattern , what's the best way to deal with this . It must of happened when I had a snelgrove up above ......

 

[Erichalfbee]

Just kill the drone layer and take the QX away

 

[oliver90owner]

Nah, Erichalfbee, leave the Q/E at this time of the year. But def simply kill that drone layer. No other sensible option possible, I would think!

 

[Erichalfbee]

Depends maybe what's in super. Poster is near me and unless he has balsam season is largely over.

 

[tudorcd]

If the QE is left in, is an exit needed for the drones as they hatch out ?

 

[Madge]

If the QE is left in, is an exit needed for the drones as they hatch out ?

Yes. I use a shallow eke (made out of 1x1 timber) with an entrance placed above the QE.

 

[oliver90owner]

These drones, on emergence, will likely get through queen excluder? After all, they are runts - not proper drones.

 

[Tremyfro]

I thought one of my queens had become a drone layer. There were loads of drones in the hive...covering whole frames.....many were stuck with their heads in the QE...from underneath as I had no brood in the super. Also a big pile of live ones under the QE on each side of the brood box. The drones were all normal size...big fat drones. There were a few small patches of worker brood to be seen but the workers in the colony had reduced. I thought intially that the colony had swarmed...but the queen was still there and no signs of queen cells. I had just fed some of the smaller colonies as we were experiencing poor weather....so I fed this colony too. Although there was honey in the super...there was hardly any stores in the brood box. The following week...much larger patches of sealed brood and larvae to be seen. Far fewer drones....and more workers.
So I think it was lack of forage...so the queen slowed down her laying...combined with all the drone hanging about before leaving the hive. I think the workers were driving them to the edges of the hive.
So if a queen becomes a drone layer...are the drones normal size ones or smaller?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Ah of course. I have seen drones dead trying to get up through the excluder in one box this year. Brood box largely empty of honey but plenty in super above. Why didn't I recognise the problem?
Why don't the bees take the stores down?

 

[oliver90owner]

Why don't the bees take the stores down?

The workers likely are - but they are not feeding the unwanted drones, or allowing them near any stores in the brood box?

 

[Erichalfbee]

too.
So if a queen becomes a drone layer...are the drones normal size ones or smaller?

Normal. The bees recognise the eggs and extend the cells.