Drones 2022

[Jacobs]

Yesterday I went to my remote hives to add sugar bricks in the shims. Most bricks had been completely consumed in a little less than a month. One hive at the Arboretum had a real surprise--bees had built a small amount of burr comb in the shim and some cells contained nectar. This hive is very strong for this time of year. I am not completely surprised because the bees came from a swarm I collected on February 27, 2020.

[reedyfork]

Just got back from vacation and decided to check on my sugar brick situation after reading Jacobs' post... Three of the four hives at my house have consumed the entire brick within a month, and have completely filled the feeding shim with new COMB, EGGS, LARVAE, and HONEY! I have no idea what to do about this and would welcome any advice:

These are very strong colonies wintering in three mediums.
I stopped feeding syrup on Nov. 10.
I added shim and sugar brick on Dec. 4.
Although they were very heavy going into winter, I now have no way to feed for the rest of the winter using the shim.
I did not open boxes or look at frames, but immediately closed the lid once I saw what was going on. Have no idea what my next move should be.

If they are using resources to build comb and raise lots of brood now, how in the world can I keep them from starving over the next few months if it actually turns cold???

(I will post pics if I can figure out how to make them small enough)

[reedyfork]

Hopefully these photos work...

[Jacobs]

Several beekeepers are reporting burr comb with drone brood in shims where sugar bricks had been consumed. reedyfork has posted on this forum with photos, I got texts and photos yesterday from beekeepers with burr comb, capped drone brood and drone larvae in shims. It is much too early in winter to be seeing this.

[reedyfork]

Update: I made it out to Summerfield this afternoon to peek in at my other 6 hives (anticipating the same situation). I was right - all 6 hives had eaten the sugar bricks and built out the space in the feeding shim with burr comb. There were eggs, larvae, capped drone cells, honey, etc.

Even though I used smoke, knocked most of the bees off the lid, and was pretty careful and gentle, I made this discovery on the very last hive... Getting ready to scrape off the last bit of comb from the cover, and there was the queen! It was a good reminder to expect she might be up there in that new burr comb laying, and to be VERY careful when removing it.

[Linda]

Thanks for the reminder! I try to remember to check inner cover after finding Q on it this summer.

[Jacobs]

I saw at least 3 drones on the landing board of one of my stronger hives just now. One took off for a short flight. Even though weather has not been right for a good examination of brood comb, I am making plans to help the bees continue to build up and to try and limit/prevent swarm activity. Is anyone else seeing drones during this warm up?

[frank]

I saw one flying today too when I was condensing one of my hives.

[reedyfork]

Same here. Plenty of dead drones on the ground over the past couple weeks, but several eating the dry sugar I checked on yesterday and a couple flying yesterday. I imagine by Saturday the bees are going to be getting excited!

Keeping an eye on those red maples!