[Propaniac]

I got into the my hive after being away for a week and all seems good in the top chamber, plenty of food, eggs, etc. But when inspecting the lower brood One of the frames in the middle had a large sectioon which looks to be queens cells? I found the queen and she seems fine, but should i get back in ther and remove the section? It covers about 1/4 of a frame. It is raised well above the other cells... I have a digital photo but left the cable at work, will post it tommorrow...thanks for any help
Chris

 

[Neubee]

Are they bullet like? If so they are just drone brood. If they look like a peanut sticking out then they are queen cells. I've never heard of so many on one frame before.

APK

 

[Neubee]

Are they bullet like? If so they are just drone brood. If they look like a peanut sticking out then they are queen cells. I've never heard of so many on one frame before.

APK

 

[Neubee]

Are they bullet like? If so they are just drone brood. If they look like a peanut sticking out then they are queen cells. I've never heard of so many on one frame before.

APK

 

[Propaniac]

they don't have the peanut shape, they look like drone cells, but i was taken back by the amount and how raised up off the comb they are, and the cluster. Should i remove them? tahnks

 

[Neubee]

Sorry about all the extra posts. Had some computer problems. There should be some drone brood but too much indicates a poor queen. Is there lots of capped worker brood too? How old is the queen? You don't have to remove them unless you want to check for varroa.

APK

 

[Propaniac]

This is my first hive and she was introduced in mid April. There seems to be plenty of worker larvae also. I will keep my eye on whether this starts to spread. Should i replace the queen if there is to many drone cells? thanks

 

[power napper]

I would not be in a rush to change the queen yet. It is not unusual for a "large section" of a frame to be drone cells. If the bees build drone cells the queen lays unfertilized eggs in them--just doing her job. Perhaps that one section of comb was damaged, was it new foundatin or previously drawn comb. Power napper.

 

[Propaniac]

it was new foundation. Will the large drone cells be a burden at all?

 

[Neubee]

I agree with power napper. Just keep an eye out.

APK

 

[Neubee]

I don't think so. They can use them for honey storage.

APK

 

[Michael Bush]

The research I've seen, which no beekeepers seem to believe, is that the proportion of drones in the hive is only dependant on the time of year. The bees will raise more or less to maintain that ratio and nothing you do as a beekeeper will stop them. Other research has shown (rather consistent with that one) that culling drone brood from a hive decreases the honey crop.

I tend to put the drone combs towards the outside where the queen can use them if she wants but they aren't out in the middle of the brood nest. Also bees often build a lot of drone comb for storage.