looks healthy
I see a lot of eggs on that frame...not just the one's pointed out....From what I am seeing in all my hives since I went foundationless is they produce at least 20-25% drone comb. And some of it is very early in the process. I actually have one hive that has about 4 frames of almost solid drone....but it also has about 9 frames of worker brood.Where's Waldo? Only eggs I'm sure of is one cell behind the upper arrow and another directly above the lower arrow shaft. Tri- focals, could you guess?
Little early for the drone brood, keep an eye out to verify more capping worker in the pipeline.
I feel in my infinite wisdom as a first year beekeeper that a healthy drone population is a sign of good and thriving hive. I have to think they may serve a much bigger purpose than what we give them credit for. If the girls want to naturally raise drones, let them (assuming they can actually raise something else too). If nothing else, I hope I can get a few frames of pure drone comb built out to leverage later in the year for mite control.From what I am seeing in all my hives since I went foundationless is they produce at least 20-25% drone comb. And some of it is very early in the process. I actually have one hive that has about 4 frames of almost solid drone....but it also has about 9 frames of worker brood.
If the workers do indeed decide on their own what type of comb to build (which should be the case in foundationless), then one must conclude if they are building drone comb they want the boys around. Just why, we don't know. If it doesn't suit us we use them for mite bait, but it may make the girls sad to lose the company.I feel in my infinite wisdom as a first year beekeeper that a healthy drone population is a sign of good and thriving hive. I have to think they may serve a much bigger purpose than what we give them credit for. If the girls want to naturally raise drones, let them (assuming they can actually raise something else too). If nothing else, I hope I can get a few frames of pure drone comb built out to leverage later in the year for mite control.