Hello one and all, just checking I did the right thing by removing Drone burrs, first inspection of the year, all good. Thanks for the great site, lots of good info, all the best, Chris.
Welcome to the wonderful world of beekeeping and this great forum, Chris! Some folks like to keep drone brood low or even remove it altogether, but they do this for certain reasons like ensuring a higher ratio of workers in areas where small hive beetles are a big problem. But the fact is, drones are part of the bee ecology too - they have a role in regulating hive temp and of course, mate with other queens to add to the gene pool. SHB is not too bad here so I’m less concerned with the ratio, except as a sign of swarm preparation.
Did you see a lot of drone comb, by the way? A colony will begin raising more drones as the worker population reaches its peak and it’s time for swarming. More drones and drone comb along with very little young brood is a good sign that queen cells are being developed or soon will be, and a colony is getting ready to swarm.
Thank you, Eva
many thanks for the reply/info.
emphasized textSome folks like to keep drone brood low or even remove it altogether, but they do this for certain reasons like ensuring a higher ratio of workers in areas
My reason,I added extra 12 wax frames, as pre winter I wanted the new colony to have the best chance, and they did so well that they made lots of Drones, in the past few weeks.
Weather is good here, England south-west, so pollen should be abundant, not being washed away by heavy rain.
Also, I wanted to prevent swarming.
I carried out The Demaree Method,to keep them busy and distract them from swarming,later/summer in the year I shall add another super.
Colony is doing well,lots of brood,honey,pollen stores,my first year,appolgies for lack of knowelgable rhetoric.
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Cheers, Chris - let us know how it goes!