Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: Highlander on April 30, 2013, 04:31:29 pm
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Do drones participate in hive defense? I was sitting watching the hive this afternoon and noted that what appeared to be a drone attacked a mud wasp that was hanging at the entrance by biting it and sort of flinging it a way. A short tim later the wasp came back and a worker be jumped it and took it to the ground. he wasp took off and the worker got back up and carried on. Tried to get a video to no avail.
Also, what damage can ants do? one of my hives has a lot of ants crawling on it.
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With the inner cover on with the flat side up, the ants can kill a hive.
With the flat side down, the bees can go through the hole and remove any ants above the inner lid, so not much, if any, damage can be done.
If you have a home made inner lid with no hole in it, the ants will take over.
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Both my hives this year have aggressive drones. They are more aggressive than the girls. It's actually quite funny since they can't do anything. When I open the hive a gang of drones usually comes after me.
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Iddee, not sure what you mean by the flat side. My bees go through the hole which is where I have a pollen patty and the hive top feeder.
Nietssemaj, I was amazed to see the drone appear to grab with the mouth and throw the wasp, he was a big fat drone, looked like Hoss from Bonanza!
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Drone thugs! :bee:
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That is really surprising and cool to learn. Drones defending the colonies. I thought that they only provided breeding service for queens. I looked at them like "dead beat dads". Kinda makes me proud of the boys. :-D
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>Do drones participate in hive defense?
I've been buzzed by them... but they are bluffing... not saying bluffing can't work as they sound meaner than the workers...