drones

[bigbeeeeeeeeee]

Hello went out to watch the bees fly today. One hive is full of drones what should I do. Live in new haven ct area. Thanks for your help and time.

[BillS]

Bigeeeeee,

You have to check to see if you have a good queen which will not be easy this time of year.
You probly have either a queenless hive or a drone layer. Either way it does not sound good.
If you have enough workers left to make it worth while, you could try to combine them with another hive to save them. The queen right hive would throw out the drones. But IMHO it's not worth doing unless you have a lot of workers left. If the hive is 90% drones let nature take it's course and start new next spring.

Good Luck Bill Schaefer

[Michael Bush]

If you have a hive full of drones they probably won't make it. I'm with Bill. "Let nature take it's course..."

[bigbeeeeeeeeee]

So I should let them die... should I just let them get robbed out as the winter goes on? What should I do with the hive as it warms up so I need to protect it from wax moths and the like? Can I play soft music for them as they parish? (Bad joke) Making light in the face of failure makes me feel better. Thanks for the input I don’t have anyone I the area to ask these questions. This is the 2nd hive I have lost this way. One more to go you know what they say about three strikes. Any other thoughts that would be relevant please let it flow. Being new it is hard to anticipate what to ask.

[jdb5949]

bigbeeeee,
You don't need to worry about wax months in the winter. Leave the hive alone, let them die.

During your spring inspection, you can then transfer any surviving honey and pollen stores to your other hive, or put the frames in a freezer for later use.

[BjornBee]

Bigbeeeeeeeeee,
If the hive is doomed, seal up the hive and kill them yourself. No need to allow drones to beg thier way into another hive, or influence the health of another hive with mite or desease transfer. This coming week there will be some warm weather. With it is the possibility of robbing. Although the mite desease and associated viral issues are minimum, why not control the saving/placing/reusing of the frames on your terms. Just seems like robbing and letting the bees deal with it is the wrong way to go about it.

I would also consider killing the hive and cleaning up the frames and comb as soon as possible. Letting them die a slow death and then waiting a couple months for mold, rotting bees, comb damage, and a stinkin mess left behind, is not the way to go. They could just end up a pile of nice dead bees on the bottom, but with the main part of winter, and a reluctance on your part to retrieve a hive in mid February with snow and such, why wait?

Save yourself additional work, save the comb, and keep this hive from influencing your other hive. Kill it and move on.

[tecumseh]

well I really doubt that drones or workers will be begging their way into another hive at this time of year. 'if' the hive is truely a drone layer then spring will tell the tale. a bit of soft music might help... at least it might soothe the beekeeper, if not the bees.

if the analysis is in fact true??? and the hive is truely queenless???, or a drone layer???, then little stinky stuff (larvae) will be present by spring time. it is a good idea to do the 'clean up' early in the spring rather than later.

just out of curiousity bigeeee how old were the hives (2???) that died?

[bigbeeeeeeeeee]

The hives are only a year old. The first one had lots of drones and it also had multiple eggs in cells and scattered egg lying. So I broke it up and added it the hives I had left. I did this in early fall. I have not taken this one apart and looked for a queen or multiple eggs in cells but there are sooooooo many drones. I suspect that there may be 20% girls and 80% boys. Thanks for the input.