Drone capturing device.

I bought a drone trap about 40 years ago when I first started my own hives.New at the time it sounded like a good idea.Dont know why but thats how fools get separated from their money!!!

The trap was kind of like a dog catching his own tail.Once I caught the drones what was I going to do with them???

“...in the presence of male bees, the organism of workers works more effectively, i.e. it utilizes in a better way the components contained in food. It must be stressed that next to the high survival rate in the worker bees consuming carbohydrate food, there occurred also a better development of the pharyngeal glands where protein is particularly necessary. The presence of drones had also a positive effect on the content of total protein and crude
fat in the bodies of worker bees consuming sugar candy.”* This study may change the minds of some beekeepers concerning the value of drones in a colony; their removal may not be as benign as once thought. “
Sanford, M.T. 2002, "Apimondia in South Africa," Bee Culture, Vol. 130 (seven installments: January, February, March, May, July, August, September).

Drone studies:

This study says they also help heat brood:
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00694379#page-1
This one says the colony is more productive with adequate drones and drone comb:
http://aesa.oxfordjournals.org/content/64/4/954
This one says that there was no significant loss of production in colonies with more drones and drone comb:
http://aesa.oxfordjournals.org/content/64/4/954


Drones get a bad rap. They leave the hive every afternoon and fly until they are exhausted. Their lives are just as short because they work just as hard as the foragers. The only downside for the hive is that they don't produce honey, but they do work at perpetuating the species at great cost to themselves, even if they don't succeed and greater if they do.