[Dave Warren]

went out to the bee yard this afternoon, and observed one of my hives having a hissy fit, the girls were trying to get in the hive and were being block by hundreds of drones, I've never seen so many drones, so I started wiping several hundred Drones away, there were still plenty left, the girls didn't bother me one bit, and if I mess with the entrance, the security guards are coming after me, but not today! I think they were overwhelmed by all of the Drones.
I just can't believe all of those Drones, I'm a 3 year keep, have 6 hives hobbyist.

 

[psfred]

Do you have a virgin queen out on mating flights in that hive? A drone comet sometimes will follow her back home, lots of drones trying to get in.

This is a good sign, since she will have mated with quite a few of them on the way, particularly if you find dying drones around the front of the hive.

Peter

 

[burns375]

did you here any music?....party time

 

[odfrank]

foundationless frames?

 

[Charlie B]

Warre hive?

 

[Dave Warren]

Do you have a virgin queen out on mating flights in that hive? A drone comet sometimes will follow her back home, lots of drones trying to get in.

This is a good sign, since she will have mated with quite a few of them on the way, particularly if you find dying drones around the front of the hive.

Peter

didn't think I had a virgin queen, but you never know, it does fit with all of those drones trying to get in.

 

[beepro]

Beecareful of a drone layer queen. How old is this queen, from this year or last?
Monitor this hive for awhile to see if there are worker capped cells also. I had a queen
that only lay drones to ruin my only hive earlier this Spring.

 

[odfrank]

Warre hive?

Good question!

 

[Dave Warren]

foundationless frames?

Had another hive with this, removed it, added a new queen!

 

[beepro]

Get rid of the extra drones, salvage all the resources you can. Then start a new
hive with a new laying queen. This is all you can do as I have done it before.

 

[WBVC]

Beecareful of a drone layer queen. How old is this queen, from this year or last?
Monitor this hive for awhile to see if there are worker capped cells also. I had a queen
that only lay drones to ruin my only hive earlier this Spring.

I posted recently about 2 hives that have worker brood but also have the honey supers literally packed with drones! No one really commented on how frequently this happens and whether it is an ongoing issue.

I will put a Queen excluder on in hopes of keeping out of the honey supers as there was no honey where the drones were gathered.