Not sure why

[enrico]

Any ideas on this one.
Double brood, queen excluder, two supers
All going well but every time I take the supers off there are 20 or 30 drones trapped on top of the queen excluder. There is NO brood in the supers. Every time I go in I clear the drones.
The only thing I can think is that there is a wide gap in the queen excluder and the drones pass through and then eat so much they cant get back, or they are too thick to remember how they where they got through!!! They die trapped on the excluder!
Never had this happen before! Any ideas?
E

 

[george]

I have had similar in one or two of mine . My best guess was newly emerged drones going walkabout and squeezing through before they had bulked up and been fed .

 

[Anduril]

If there was a wide gap in the excluder, the queen would also get through. On one occasion I had around 10 drones above the excluder. The only thing I came up with at the time was that they flew down and into the supers during brood box manipulations. As an aside, last week I took the supers off turned around to take the queen excluder off and a bumble bee flew into the super. After getting rid of it I covered up the super with the crownboard.

 

[Millet]

On one occasion I had around 10 drones above the excluder. The only thing I came up with at the time was that they flew down and into the supers during brood box manipulations.

I have drones above the excluder every time i investigate the colonies and that is what i put it down to.

 

[eltalia]

Excluder 'technology' is built around thorax dimensions.
As "exoskeleton" that body part cannot change in dimension once set
very soon after emergence.
Where there is no other possible hardware or b'keep error factor
granting drone and queen access above an excluder, change the device
for new.

Bill

 

[Anduril]

I have drones above the excluder every time i investigate the colonies and that is what i put it down to.

As Dusty Rhodes on here says 'You can never have enough crownboards'. Just carry extra crownboards and cover the supers to stop robbing and drones.

 

[The Poot in Somerset]

I've recently found drones stuck in my excluders - but facing upwards. They clearly were trying to get above the q ex got stuck and died there.
I reckon your theory might be right Enrico.

 

[Anduril]

I've recently found drones stuck in my excluders - but facing upwards. They clearly were trying to get above the q ex got stuck and died there.
I reckon your theory might be right Enrico.

The drones I saw were all dead with their heads stuck downwards.

 

[Rosti]

As Dusty Rhodes on here says 'You can never have enough crownboards'. Just carry extra crownboards and cover the supers to stop robbing and drones.

As an alternative to bulky crown boards, I have a couple of large tea towels, ends sewn over to create loops. Couple of large dowel rods, one pushed in each end. Easy to roll and store and clean. Quick to deploy - lay over and the weight of the dowels keep them in place. Great for covering / isolating removed or base hive elements. May work for you?

 

[steve1958]

Whenever you take the hive apart to inspect the broad nest you are making it possible for flying bees (including drones), to enter the supers.
There they stay until you notice them or until they die

 

[eltalia]

Whenever you take the hive apart to inspect the broad nest you are making it possible for flying bees (including drones), to enter the supers.
There they stay until you notice them or until they die

Yep.. and more so when working numbers over the apiary like 50 boxes open
at a time on a nice fine morning. Drones fly, drones beg... well documented
both anecdotedly and in peer reviewed studies.
Quite normal.

Bill

 

[Beefriendly]

Quite normal.

Bill

nOT SURE "quite normal" and bILL belong on the same page

 

[Beefriendly]

Understand why you write so peculiarly it sense rarely makes logical or comprehensive Bill I do not. You had English teacher bAD… or did you have at all? Worry I thou are quite misinformed biology about much basic bee …

 

[eltalia]

nOT SURE "quite normal" and bILL belong on the same page

You get that (outlook) whilst the target of travel bans.

The irony of such comment being grammer is not the abide
of drama queens around social media, hence the rhule states
stay on bees and off the poster so beekeepers "get it". Delve
into the usual social media adhoms and it may well turn out
such 'cleverness' only serves to skidmark your......................
jocks/longjohns/budgie-smugglers/kelvin kleins. hic

Bill