Drones

[Stevelanebee]

Hello,
A friend asked me to help him with 2 hives someone abandon on his property. Both hives had 3 deeps and 4 supers stacked on top of each other. Taking the hives apart 1 hive had 2 deeps packed solid with bees. The hive was loaded with honey pollen and many queen cells. The 2 deeps were packed so tight with bees I was shocked. The 2nd hive was empty, and everything was full of mold. I looked for a queen cell with no luck in the packed hive. If there was one I would be surprised if I found her. My question is the hive was loaded with drones. There were frames packed on both sides with drones. There was a ton on bees but the ratio of drones to bees was much higher than normaI. I made a split with plenty of resources and a couple of queen cells. I'm expecting some queens this week so ill check them later in the week and take a couple more splits off of it. What would be the reason for so many drones?

 

[Erichalfbee]

There was a ton on bees but the ratio of drones to bees was much higher than normaI.

I have often found queenless hives with virgins waiting to emerge packed with drones for some reason. But no idea why
Was there any worker brood in the hive? You might have laying workers and king cells if there is none? Hence the number of drones. Were they normal size ?

 

[rolande]

Another possibility is mouse/moth eaten combs rebuilt with drone cells to give a natural drone population which *might* be higher than what you normally see in your hives.

 

[Stevelanebee]

I have often found queenless hives with virgins waiting to emerge packed with drones for some reason. But no idea why
Was there any worker brood in the hive? You might have laying workers and king cells if there is none? Hence the number of drones. Were they normal size ?

Dani,
Thanks for your reply. There was lots of regular brood and drone brood. There was a lot of large queen cells also. The drones did seem larger than normal.

 

[Stevelanebee]

Another possibility is mouse/moth eaten combs rebuilt with drone cells to give a natural drone population which *might* be higher than what you normally see in your hives.

There was not ant evidence of mice or moth-eaten comb that I noticed. Thanks

 

[Erichalfbee]

Dani,
Thanks for your reply. There was lots of regular brood and drone brood. There was a lot of large queen cells also. The drones did seem larger than normal.

As per my first sentence, then. No idea why, it just happens.

 

[Stevelanebee]

From my previous post with the hive loaded with large drones and lots of capped drones. There are lots of nurse and worker bees and several frames filled with normal capped brood. I was planning on requeening the hive later this week. There is regular uncapped larva as far as I can tell its not drones. What I was thinking of doing is adding a queen excluder and another deep above the 2 deeps with the new a queen. Removing any frames that have capped brood from the lower deeps with some pollen and honey. After a week or so remove all of the drones. Im not sure if this makes any sense or if someone has a better solution on requeening the hive?

 

[rolande]

Removing all the drones makes no sense at all to me. Everything you've written so far points to an incredibly healthy colony which probably doesn't need any help from you at present.

 

[ericbeaumont]

better solution on requeening the hive

Save your money and the bother. I agree with Rolande: strong colony, no disease, doing what bees do and doing it well.

How would you describe colony temper?

made a split with plenty of resources and a couple of queen cells

How big is the split? If a full deep, it may yet swarm if you leave 2 QCs. Never give bees options: leave one.

If it were mine to make increase, I'd use several split boards and divide the brood equally with one QC each. Flyers will return to the bottom box, so that will get the emptiest super, and the rest a super each.

 

[ericbeaumont]

a lot of large queen cells also. The drones did seem larger than normal.

At what stage of development? Early open, nearly sealed, sealed, or sealed, emerged and re-sealed? I wouldn't obsess about the size of the drones; if in doubt, post a photo.

 

[ericbeaumont]

There was not ant evidence of mice or moth-eaten comb that I noticed

Evidence would have been apparent in the bottom box early in the season, but a colony as strong as you describe will have removed all detritus and rebuilt the combs; when bees do so it is invariably drone.

 

[Stevelanebee]

Thanks for your advice

 

[jeff33]

Yes, agreed with others. A strong colony will normaly produce more drones, nothing unusual with this.