Drones

I am already seeing capped drone brood. Can I start rearing queens when I see hatched drones or will they kick them out till warmer weather?
Kingfisher

If they were going to kick them out until warmer weather, they wouldn't wait to do it. The drone larva would already be tossed.

Keep in mind that drones need to mature a little before they mate. Newly emerged drones are still immature.

As long as they are well supplied with stores of pollen and honey,then they should be fine,drones need to be around 17/20 days old after emerging before they are sexually mature enough to mate.

i posted some data on here over a year ago about the conditions for drone rearing.
To sum it up:
The inclination of the sun.
The light intensity of the sun
The photo period.
The sources of incoming nectar and pollen.
The general population and health of the hive.
The last two can be managed by feeding management.
You have the 1st three going with you.
Good luck.
Ernie

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Originally Posted by Kingfisher Apiaries

I am already seeing capped drone brood. Can I start rearing queens when I see hatched drones or will they kick them out till warmer weather?
Kingfisher

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Dr. Larry Connors told me that I should start grafting queens when drone pupae reached the purple eye stage. But I don't know if February in Texas is what he had in mind.

There is more to think about here. Are your colonies flying much? Are drones in abundance? Will virgin queens find weather conditions condusive to mating? Remember, there have to be enuf mature drones available for the queens to mate w/ an average of 13.5 drones.

I don't know how you get that .5 drone. What I learned in Orlando at the ABF mtng was that queens will mate w/ from 1 to 45 drones w/ the average being 13.5 drones. Someone probably got a degree figuring that out.

Thanks for all the info y'all have shared. Looks like I won't be starting to rear queens early next week because we have had 2 inches of snow.That is Texas for you.
Kingfisher

that .5 Drone was just half loaded :scratch:

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Originally Posted by Velbert

that .5 Drone was just half loaded :scratch:

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Better half loaded then shooting blanks! :eek:

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Originally Posted by Kingfisher Apiaries

Thanks for all the info y'all have shared. Looks like I won't be starting to rear queens early next week because we have had 2 inches of snow.That is Texas for you.
Kingfisher

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Only two inches? I heard it was a foot.

It was more like 4-6 inches of snow when it was all said and done. Hoping to get going with grafting the end of next week.
Kingfisher

I believe I would wait till you have higher temps. you get better mated queens. nothing worse then bad mated queens.
Don