viable drones

[MichelinMan]

Hello,

Next spring I would like to create a lot of nucs and use queen cells instead of mated queens. This will take place in a new location miles from my regular bee yard. As the virgins emerge to mate in this new location, there may not be any drones in the area. So I would like to saturate the area with drones and I am thinking if I make a small colony queenless for long enough it will eventually produce some laying workers. These workers can only produce drones. But will these drones be viable to mate even though their mother is a worker?

[BEES4U]

Not a good idea because of timing and the quality of the drone.

Here is a solid method:
Put in some Pierco drone comb or drone cell base wax foundation that has never been exposed to chemicals into your drone mother stock, feed syrup and pollen patties, wait until the drone brood is capped to just emerging, put the drone brood into a queen lees single with plenty of food and capped brood to care for the drones, and put the drone hive near your mating yard.
Remember, it takes a drone 14 days with good care to become sexually mature.
You want your virgin queens and drones to be of the proper age to become mated. It will take some good coordination and timing to produce high quality queens.
Good Luck,
Ernie

[Paraplegic Racehorse]

You probably should plan on between six and eight fertilized queens per frame of drone comb. That allows a certain amount of drone mortality from predators and other sources.

Yes, that's a LOT of drones. If you can't produce them yourself, you may be able to get them from another beekeeper in your area. Just try to be picky about who they come from. You probably don't want drone frames from a beek practicing drone-removal as a form of varroa control...

[habutti]

Just try to be picky about who they come from. You probably don't want drone frames from a beek practicing drone-removal as a form of varroa control...

And if you do get them from a beek practicing drone-removal make sure you are putting these frames in a disposable colony, one that you don't mind getting rid of at the end of your mating season, because the mite load will be unbearable.
Bee happy :lookout:

[MichelinMan]

Thanks guys. I see that drone selection is important. I think I`ll make them myself from a good queen that I have. I`ll just have to get me some of that drone comb like Ernie said. I`ll spend the winter researching this because I want to make a lot of bees next year without it costing me an arm and a leg.

Luc