DRONES AND SWARMS

[BULLSEYE BILL]

I have noticed that some of my swarms that I have been collecting have drones and some appear not to have any or perhaps just a few and I did not see them.

Do you think that this is indictitive of a virgin queen? I wonder if an old queen would NOT attract any drones to the cluster and a virgin queen does?

[Rob Mountain]

Bill
I think that hive placement and drifting play a large roll in drone redistribution.

Rob


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If a job is worth doing - Then do it well

[BULLSEYE BILL]

Rob,
Could you expand on that, I'm not quite sure of what you are saying.

Also, consider that I have no way of knowing where the parent colony is from the location that I retrieve the swarms.

[Rob Mountain]

Ok Bill

Now I see why nobody has answered this one. Sorry I thought you were talking about once they were established. My goodness, I really wouldnÂ’t even try to take a guess at this one. Thinking back to South Africa my observations were much the same as yours. I will discuss this with Dr. Tom Webster and will get back on the forum about it.


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If a job is worth doing - Then do it well

[Hook]

Drones: Most of the swarms I have dealt with, are ones that I have removed from somewhere. The drone population is higher, because the cell structure is not nearly as precise as on foundation. I removed bees from places, and the drones were very big, and when I tore the comb out, I saw why. Even in my top bar hive, I tend to get more drone cells along the sides. I guess it depends where their home was.


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Dale Richards
Dal-Col Apiaries
Drums, PA

[BULLSEYE BILL]

Hook, so you are of the opionion that there are more drones in a swarm because it was feral and more likely to have drone sized cells producing more drones?