Will drone layers kill a new queen

[Craig1961]

A friend up the road has found himself Q-. 3 weeks since queen hatched, but he can only see a few lava in the hive which he says are drone.
He wants to buy a new queen, but has heard a drone layig hive would kill her. Can anyone shed any light on that. His bees are busy bringing in pollen etc.

A question from me. My swarm has started to draw comb and store pollen and nectar. Does this indiate HM is there? As they were all on 3 frames at the rear of the hive, I have moved them to the middle, under the feeder. Have I done right.
Thanks.

 

[oliver90owner]

A friend up the road has found himself Q-. 3 weeks since queen hatched,

Three weeks is nothing particularly special. Any queen is likely to kill an introduced queen. For certain only one will survive, and so often it would be the one you don't want.

Your friend is likely wrong, anyway.

As they were all on 3 frames at the rear of the hive, I have moved them to the middle, under the feeder. Have I done right.

As oft' repeated elswhere, small colonies should be in a nuc, not a full sized cold cavern.

So, IMO, you haven't. But there are advocates of putting tiny colonies into huge boxes and expecting them to do as well as in a smaller more cosy confine. Some will likely be along shortly.

I wonder why so many expect the bees to cope with all and anything supplied as a home.

 

[Craig1961]

thanks Oliver. Put in BB as nuc was some 30 miles away. It's all I had at the time. I do take on board what you say, and thanks for ansewring.
Craig.

 

[susbees]

Chunks of Kingspan or equivalent behind dummy boards (or without if you've run out of such things), couple of frames to draw at a time....and look out for robbing. We're in a June lull here and such things are possible.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

Drone from a drone laying queen or from laying workers?

Are they drone? Only when the larvae are large enough that the workers increase the length of the cells will you be sure. A drone laying queen can be replaced in the usual way. Laying workers pose a different problem and can be difficult to re-queen by all accounts.

For your colony Craig, they built the comb where they did for a good reason, I would see no need to move it except into a smaller box if the colony size is small. However, not now, wait until the queen has mated or she may get confused upon her return from her nuptuals. If the bees have made a space for her to lay, then she's there.