From: grizzly bearnolds <mkittner@telus.net>
Date: Wed, 05 Sep 2001 17:16:19 -0700
To: BiologicalBeekeeping@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: Drone eviction

>I know the drones are driven out each fall, but do the workers actually
>sting them to death as they remove them?

I noticed this year, and in my opinion ... The worker bees first try to
prevent the drone from entering the hive. If the drone persists, more force
and deadly force will be applied.

The bees certainly know what they are up to. A few weeks ago, suddenly, out
of the blue, the girls started en masse to prevent the drones from entering
the hives, and a number of dead ones were found on the beehouse floor in
front of the hives. The weather at that time was still pretty good when
that happened. Then this behaviour stopped, and with that a sudden change
in weather which brought heavy rain down into the valley with snow up in
the mountains.

This showed me once more that I have to become more adept at reading the
signs that the bees give and that I must try harder to interpret what they
are trying to tell me. The other instance, after I pulled what little honey
they gave in the shallow supers and started to feed them, they have been
drawing the syrup so fast and so much already, like they are in a terrible
rush to get things settled and their house in order for the difficult
season ahead. It is very noticeable this year, compared to past years.

Ma. / Nass Valley .. British Columbia .. CANADA
(near the Alaska border) .. five colonies and a donkey
Beekeeper's Apprentice .. mailto:mkittner@telus.net