Drones

[Karsal]

I have just returned from checking my colonies. It's 7 degrees here today and quite windy.
Only one colony was out flying but to my surprise I saw a drone land on the landing board and another come out the hive and fly off. Obviously they all weren't kicked out before winter.

 

[chrisb]

I had masses of them well into November, last month they must have released as lots of dead drones on floor.
not seen any recently but thats not to say there are none

 

[Swarm]

*****

 

[Millet]

I have brood capping on my inspection tray which obviously indicates new brood, lets hope i do not see too many drones from this soon to be 3yrs old Queen.

 

[Brian Bush]

I have just returned from checking my colonies. It's 7 degrees here today and quite windy.
Only one colony was out flying but to my surprise I saw a drone land on the landing board and another come out the hive and fly off. Obviously they all weren't kicked out before winter.

I do not want to be the bearer of bad news but if you have drones at this time of year it is probably indicative of a failing queen who is drone laying.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Most of my colonies take a few drones through the winter especially the yellow bees

 

[Fatbee]

Whether it's a few overwinterers or a DLQ nothing can be done until it warms up. What will be will be.

 

[Finman]

.
That drone is the end of the world. Armageddon.
.

 

[oliver90owner]

Obviously they all weren't kicked out before winter.

You might be lucky and there is a pair of queens in there, probably the new one being unmated, and the bees will get rid of her and retain the old queen until they replace her later. More likely is that the resident queen is unmated - bad news for the colony, particularly if she is laying.

 

[Finman]

.
It is better to look inside, but nothing can be done this time. Queen losses are not rare during winter and autumn.
.

 

[snelgrove]

I had a similar occurrence in February a few years ago with drones flying, in my case it was a drone laying queen on spring inspection.

 

[tonyofarr]

I have had this before and it was caused by a late supersedure queen that did not get mated - the other queen was clipped and marked so it was easy to see what had happened, but very annoying.

 

[beeno]

Hi all,
Every season seems to be different. This year my large colonies got rid of the drones as soon as I stole the honey at the beginning of August.

 

[birdsandbees]

I found a dead Drone on the landing board of one of mine at the weekend, little fella had his boy bits hanging out!
I've not seen any others so not concerned at the moment, possibly produced a while ago when we had a spell of warmer weather.

 

[foghornleghorn]

Strong hives always seem to carry drones through winter around here, have never seen any mass evictions.

 

[Karsal]

I have just returned from checking my colonies. It's 7 degrees here today and quite windy.
Only one colony was out flying but to my surprise I saw a drone land on the landing board and another come out the hive and fly off. Obviously they all weren't kicked out before winter.

This was a very strong hive and my most aggressive colony last year. The bottom board is full of fresh uncappings so we will see what is afoot on first inspection. Nothing I can do anyway.