As part of my new paws-on approach to beekeeping, I’ve decided to clean hive.  Upon careful examination of Chuck BEEly Hive, I realized things are not as bleak as Dad led me to believe.  It is difficult to identify eggs in a cell, so I can understand how Dad missed it a few days ago.  But since then the few existing eggs have had time to grow, and much to my amazement my Honey Bees are attempting to make four new Queens!  We just need one to save the hive!  However, I noticed there are also Drone cells.  These boys of summer have got to go!

According to my research, Drone Bees are the frat boys of the hive.  They spend their days lounging about the hive, eating my precious stores of nectar, and doing very little if anything to contribute to the hive’s wellbeing during this tumultuous time.  In fact, while they wait for a new Queen to emerge, they are only depleting my already limited resources.  Clearly it is time to evict them.  Now before any of you jump to the defense of these male bees, yes they do serve a good purpose when the colony is thriving.  But you should know that on a daily basis the ladies do all the work.  The female Worker Bees collect the pollen, make the honey, raise, the young, and care for the needs of their Queen. These ladies also guard the hive from intruders and do all the housekeeping chores.  In fact during the natural lifecycle of the colony, come the end of summer the Drones are systematically kicked out of the hive or even killed to ensure the survival of the colony during the winter.  Besides, when my new Queen assumes the throne she will leave the hive to mate, and won’t be interested in these few boys.

Luckily the Drones are easy to spot once their comb is capped, because they are bigger and protrude more than the Worker Bee brood, but smaller than the peanut shaped Queen cells.  So with that in mind, I went to work removing the Drone Bees.  I know it is a gamble.  It takes about 16 days for a Queen to hatch, and then another week before she starts laying eggs.  But paws crossed, that a new Queen reigns over my hive soon!  This is my last chance for Chuck BEEly Hive to save itself, before I have to take matters into my own paws and combine it with Azzza Hive.  Sorry the picture of me with the Drone comb isn’t clear.  Mom refused to get closer for fear the Drones would suddenly burst out and sting her.  Silly Mom, don’t you know Drones don’t have stingers?