Ive noticed ALOT of drones, trying to get into a hive. ALOT of them, they get chased out, but, Ive never seen so many. Was killing them with my fingers, untila a guard got me instead. Any ideas on why so many, or are other drones from other hives trying to get into this one?

-- STAN (sopal@net-port.com), October 24, 2000

Answers

Possibly your queen is laying too many drone cells. They may do that if the queen is getting old. You will have to open the hive and look at the cells. If there are too many drone cells you will have to replace the frame with a new one. Also it is getting late in the season. Drones are pushed out of the hive for winter and left to die in the cold.

-- R. (thor610@yahoo.com), October 24, 2000.

I checked her a few weeks ago,, was fine. Syarting to get cold here, highs of 60 during the day, so checking might be a problem. But why so many drones around the hive,, they look like different strain of bees, some do anyways.

-- STAN (sopal@net-port.com), October 24, 2000.

I have not worked bees for many years. When bees are raised in natural setting , they will many times make the cells too larg which encourages the raising of drones. If you use commetcial hives, or homemade hives , use commercial foundation, and you will not have as many drones , I think. Good luck. Old beeman.

-- George Wilson (cwwhtw@aol.com), October 24, 2000.

Stan, are you sure they are drones and not a type of native bee that is bigger than the honey bees? I ask since you said they looked different. You might want to use an entrance reducer in case there is some robbing going on. Probably it is drones though. When it starts getting close to winter the workers kick the drones out of the hive and of course the drones want back in. That would be why they are hanging around the front of the hive. If you smash them they release an odor that drives the guard bees nuts and you are more likely to get stung. If you want to remove them (not really necessary) use your bee brush to get them into a jar and kill them when you aren't near the hive. The reason drones are kicked out of the hive is they eat more than the other bees and contribute nothing. You must watch your frames closely to make sure you aren't getting a lot of drone comb....the cells are larger for drones. If you have a lot of comb with the drone cells in it remove it from your brood chamber and use it in your honey super where the queen doesn't lay. If you see that there are a lot of drones in one colony and the number of workers is decreasing replace your queen immediately. After a while your queen will go sterile and lay only drones and she needs to be replaced.

-- Amanda S (aseley@townsqr.com), October 24, 2000.

Stan, this is normal ! The extra drones are evicted from the colony as winter approaches to preserve the stores. I'm so glad you noticed, it also means your a vigilant bee keeper and a good one ! ( we knew that already). GL

P.S. How did you do this year ? Any Honey ? Good Flavor ? I've been dying to ask.

-- Joel Rosen (Joel681@webtv.net), October 25, 2000.