Drones in January ?????

[hedgehog66]

Hi
I have just put eke on brood box and laid fondant ontop of frames as suggested by many helpful beeks on here.(bees low on stores, not taking fondant from ontop of crown board etc etc.....)

when i removed crown board there were 6 drones and 1 worker on it.

is it likely that i have a drone laying queen and these guys are left over from the end of last season ???

the 2 colonies i lost recently also had lots of drones on the frames

 

[enrico]

I would bet on a drone laying queen

 

[VEG]

I agree

 

[hedgehog66]

thats what i thought

what is my best option ???

no other colonies to unit with.

 

[Polyanwood]

Probably doomed.
You could kill the queen and combine what is left with a nuc in the Spring, having taken out the frames of drone brood, but I think it is a bit pointless. I would let them die.

 

[beeno]

thats what i thought

what is my best option ???

no other colonies to unit with.

Hi hedgehog66,
You have to wait and see if this is the case. However, if it is a drone laying queen then by the time you can get a new queen all your workers will have died out! Sorry, I asked the question at my last apiary meeting.

 

[Midland Beek]

A colony might on occasions take a small number of drones through winter, like if it was very strong and/or the queen was perhaps failing. But if these were stunted drones, well then that means DLQ or laying workers.

 

[drex]

I wonder. Look at my post in "what did you do in Apiary" that I have just put up. In my poly nuc there was a fair bit of capped worker brood, and one capped drone cell. She was new last year. I do not think she can be low on sperm as so many normal worker cells. Just surprised that she is laying the odd drone. I will see the state of play in March.

 

[REDWOOD]

You won't know if you have laying workers or a DLQ until you open the hive and have a check, if the queen is firing drones then a new queen is should be sourced quickly or combine with another colony. If however you have laying workers then shake the hive in the spring if it's still alive

 

[susbees]

If however you have laying workers then shake the hive in the spring if it's still alive

Pretty pointless if the OP has only one hive. I don't recommend any beekeeper to have one hive. Two is sensible for several reasons.

 

[REDWOOD]

Pretty pointless if the OP has only one hive. I don't recommend any beekeeper to have one hive. Two is sensible for several reasons.

Quite right pointless shaking them to nothing

 

[beekim]

susbees is quite right but money often only lets you start with 1 hive. i have not looked at my bees in weeks fingers crossed i have hefted and got it right a new hive built for spring hope to split but money put away for 2 queens.

 

[Tom Bick]

Pretty pointless if the OP has only one hive. I don't recommend any beekeeper to have one hive. Two is sensible for several reasons.

Yes two hives makes life easier or if a one hive beekeeper has a few people close that can help. Its keeping it down to one hive can be the difficult bit. In this case the OP went into the winter with 3 and has lost two already.

I may be wrong but I wonder if the OP started with one hive then swarmed and then created a split as is often recommended on this forum to create three and then not strong enough for the winter. If this was the case one strong hive may have been a better option.

 

[hedgehog66]

hi
i bought 3 colonies at end of summer
all were low on stores.

i had them checked by experienced beek and they said feed, feed, feed.

they came and helped me do oxalic and checked them again and thought they were all doing ok.

lots of drones in both dead colonies also.

i have left one sealed up until someone can come and look at it and give me their opinion on what happened.

the queens were meant to be 2012's

i am very confused as to what has happened, beekeeping meeting, inc bee inspector on Thurs so will ask advice there aswell.

 

[peteinwilts]

It is quite likely a lot of 2012 queens will fail early due to the poor mating weather.

 

[hedgehog66]

but, how come the bees have lasted so long.

if queen was not mated in early summer, (when seller i bought them from, purchased the bees) she wouldnt make any workers, therefore no foragers, therefore no food.... and the whole colony would have collapsed much earlier in the year.

this is where some confusion comes in - i am new to beekeeping, done a great course, read loads of books, done lots of research, but i am a bit flumoxed ( is that how you spell it ????? )

 

[oliver90owner]

if queen was not mated in early summer,

Pete said 'will fail early' meaning before their useful life of two or three seasons has expired. A lot will expire long before the second season and yours may well be some that have failed after a very few months.

Often the bees will replace a failing queen - and that can be a success in a good year - but sadly this last year was poor for queen mating early on and often useless for queen mating at the latter part of the season. Lose, lose situation this last year, I'm afraid.

I didn't change any queens last summer due to the continuing poor weather outlook, so I might be lucky, but will wait and see until it is time to go snooping in the colonies.

 

[beeno]

but, how come the bees have lasted so long.

if queen was not mated in early summer, (when seller i bought them from, purchased the bees) she wouldnt make any workers, therefore no foragers, therefore no food.... and the whole colony would have collapsed much earlier in the year.

this is where some confusion comes in - i am new to beekeeping, done a great course, read loads of books, done lots of research, but i am a bit flumoxed ( is that how you spell it ????? )

Hi hedgehog66,
My colony in 2011 did not have any brood beyond 4th September, i.e. no winter bees, due to unmated virgins and they finally succumed in the cold spell we had in January 2012. About the same time frame as yours. They lived longer because they did not have any brood to feed. She could have been poorly mated and run out of sperm. When did you last see any worker brood? You should be able to work out what happened from your hive records. It's a lot more to bee keeping than people think, but that's what makes it interesting. Thrills, spills and adventure.

 

[Chris B]

hi

i had them checked by experienced beek

In that case, if all 3 were okay last autumn you've been incredibly unlucky for all 3 to have queens fail in the meantime.

Depends a bit on when your experienced friend gave them the green light. To me it sounds like these problems would have certainly been evident by September, but perhaps less obvious earlier on.

 

[MuswellMetro]

I wonder. Look at my post in "what did you do in Apiary" that I have just put up. In my poly nuc there was a fair bit of capped worker brood, and one capped drone cell. She was new last year. I do not think she can be low on sperm as so many normal worker cells. Just surprised that she is laying the odd drone. I will see the state of play in March.

could be a laying workers egg not policed by her half sisters. it is common to have the odd laying worker in a hive even with a viable queen, normaly laying workers eggs are eaten by her half sister workers...it only turns into a full drone laying worker hive when the hive goes queenless and lots (>20%) of the workers start laying...that's when you notice it

one drone cell of brood no worry....lots=doomed

see ratneiks paper and martin pdf and link

http://www.lasi.group.shef.ac.uk/pdf/rbes1993.pdf