Spring Inspection and lots of Drone

[shazzer]

I removed my deep super with honey in Autumn and replaced it with a shallow for my bees to fill with Ivy etc for their winter stores. After they had filled it completely I removed the QX so they could all move up together if need be.

This has all worked out well and when I opened them up for the first time this year they still had plenty of stores in the shallow left. There are lots of bees and they are very active with lots of new brood down below.

I then shook the bees off the shallow into the Brood box and put the QX back on. Today I did another inspection and I have lots of drone cells in my shallow super a few varroa on the grubs too.

Just concerned that my queen may have been up there. But I am also thinking that I have some workers laying Drones.

Suppose I will have to go back in there and check the brood chamber to see if there are eggs and larvae on the way.
Will workers lay drones on their own accord or do they do it only when the queen is lost?

 

[birdsandbees]

I removed my deep super with honey in Autumn and replaced it with a shallow for my bees to fill with Ivy etc for their winter stores. After they had filled it completely I removed the QX so they could all move up together if need be.

This has all worked out well and when I opened them up for the first time this year they still had plenty of stores in the shallow left. There are lots of bees and they are very active with lots of new brood down below.

I then shook the bees off the shallow into the Brood box and put the QX back on. Today I did another inspection and I have lots of drone cells in my shallow super a few varroa on the grubs too.

Just concerned that my queen may have been up there. But I am also thinking that I have some workers laying Drones.

Suppose I will have to go back in there and check the brood chamber to see if there are eggs and larvae on the way.
Will workers lay drones on their own accord or do they do it only when the queen is lost?

I had a similar set up, the queen had moved up to lay in the bottom of the shallow (super) frames and they'd got a fair bit of drone brood on the bottom, nothing to worry about though I did find one or two Queen cells a week after on the bottoms after replacing the QE so removed them.
what I didn't have was the varroa issue.

 

[GaryB]

Same here, on brood and half over winter, and they also had drone brood on the super frames when I opened them last week. Queen is definitely in the brood box now, and laying well, as she has plenty of room. They are stuffing nectar into the super now, and are already up onto their second super that I placed last week. Very early flow going on down here.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

Ignoring your obvious varroa problem for now, Is the queen laying worker brood in the brood box?
If a queen is present and OK, workers will not lay in the way described.

 

[shazzer]

I will have to dive in again and take a look. She has been a beauty I will be very upset if I lost her. Will report back after I take a look.

 

[For want of a better word]

Ignoring your obvious varroa problem for now, Is the queen laying worker brood in the brood box?
If a queen is present and OK, workers will not lay in the way described.

As Heebeegeebee says.

Workers that lay tend to be haphazard in laying pattern......
Remove the queen excluder and allow the colony to establish brood and one half, although not a problem, as set up now, the drones in the "shallow" super will be stuck the wrong side of the queen excluder.
Put a qx on top of the two boxes and a honey super filled with drawn comb ( extracted last year) above the qx.

Let alone for a week and then go back in and check for sealed worker brood... I am probably wrong, but there is the possibility you may have a drone laying queen?

Myttin da

 

[Gilberdyke John]

I removed my deep super with honey in Autumn and replaced it with a shallow for my bees to fill with Ivy etc for their winter stores. After they had filled it completely I removed the QX so they could all move up together if need be.

This has all worked out well and when I opened them up for the first time this year they still had plenty of stores in the shallow left. There are lots of bees and they are very active with lots of new brood down below.

I then shook the bees off the shallow into the Brood box and put the QX back on. Today I did another inspection and I have lots of drone cells in my shallow super a few varroa on the grubs too.

Just concerned that my queen may have been up there. But I am also thinking that I have some workers laying Drones.

Suppose I will have to go back in there and check the brood chamber to see if there are eggs and larvae on the way.
Will workers lay drones on their own accord or do they do it only when the queen is lost?

I'd have moved the super down to underneath the brood box before winter. You would have avoided the shaking excerise.
Were there eggs/small larvae in the super before you inserted the queen excluder? What is your interpretation of a lot of drone cells? Some cells are to be expected and drone cells are preferred by varroa. Some beeks sacrifice drone brood as a means of varroa control.
You need to determine the conditions in the brood box subject to weather permitting and the activity levels at the entrance.