Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: LEAD PIPE on July 18, 2005, 04:32:34 pm
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Well I put in some plastic drone comb foundation hoping to help control mites. I thought it would take a while for the bees to build it out. Apparently they wasted no time. I checked the hive today, it's been about a month, and there were drones everywhere. The first frame I checked was covered in them. I thought the bees had gotten into some super pollen or something. When I checked the drone frame they just about all had hatched. I'm not sure how many a frame of drone comb produces but I know it is a lot. My question is will so many drones in a hive cause me problems? Do I need to do anything? I don't have any experience but this seems like a very strong hive. It is booming with bees (actually a little scary)
Lots of frames of capped worker brood in the hive too.
Thanks
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I wouldn't be concerned so much with the amount of drones, but more about if you did have varroa, you just provided a great environment for them to reproduce.
This is exactly why I don't like the drone frame method. It is sort of like playing Russian roulette. There are plenty of distractions in life that can easily cause not getting to the capped frames in time.
Hope things turn out OK for you.
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I looked real hard at a couple of frames and didn't see any mites. About 6 weeks ago I oiled up the white board and after a week I didn't find any that had fallen through. I think I'm okay this time. I do see your point though. I moved the drone comb up into the food box to have better access to it.
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I'm assuming you did freeze it first?
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No. I put foundation in and the comb was buil and the drones hatched before I took it out to freeze.
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The bees have a threshold for drones and when it's reached they won't want to raise more. There is a limit to the number they will raise and it is regardless of any drone foundation in the hive.