Is concern over residues in foundation warranted?

[Poly Hive]

In general I agree but the pic posted shows a good 60% drone comb, and at that rate times 11 there ain't a great deal of worker cells is there?

PH

[Mellifera Crofter]

... and at that rate times 11 there ain't a great deal of worker cells is there?

PH

But they will not continue building drone cells at that rate. They adjust their drone laying according to need. That's what I understand.
Kitta

[Jon]

I would never have more than 2 or 3 drone combs in a brood box.
The rest is drawn from worker foundation.
It is convenient to confine it to certain combs.
If I want fresh comb drawn, I remove a frame and replace it with a frame strengthened by a couple of strands of fishing line.
It will often be completely drawn and laid up 48 hours later.
Most of my drone comb is in storage in the shed at the moment and will be reintroduced in April or whenever the colony is strong enough.

[Jon]

But they will not continue building drone cells at that rate. They adjust their drone laying according to need. That's what I understand.
Kitta

That's how it works. A lot of beekeepers use exclusively worker foundation so they always draw drone comb the first chance they get when the have a space to make it somewhere. If you use one of those foundationless frames reinforced by fishing line they can make it 100% drone comb, 100% worker or anything between the two. I have noticed they often make worker comb near the middle and a fringe of drone comb at either side.

A newly housed swarm will never draw drone comb as the priority is to get a fresh batch of workers established.
You can also use shallows like this.

shallow with drone brood.jpg

[Dan]

I routinely give my colonies brood frames with 1" starter strips of foundation, placed on the edge of the brood nest to encourage the drawing of whatever they want/need. In a good season it is invariably drone comb in spring and early summer, although this year there was a marked disinclination towards that and much of them were drawn as part or all worker.

My attitude is that they should have the drone numbers they prefer, and having drone comb on a single frame aids with IPM for varroa. I do not find drone comb bad, undesirable, etc., but my preference is for a comb to be predominantly either worker or drone, and I do not get hung up about a line of drone along the bottom edge of comb.

I don't use fishing wire in the starter strip frames, but this is rarely an issue, even on 16x10 frames.

[Jon]

I don't use fishing wire in the starter strip frames, but this is rarely an issue, even on 16x10 frames.

You may be right. Once a couple of generations of brood have been reared in a comb it is pretty tough even when unwired.
If you put a frame in between two which are already drawn you don't even need the starter strip.

[prakel]

Just dipping a toe in here re: drone comb.

Having been away and off line for three weeks I've been catching up with various threads over the last couple of days and this one sparked a little interest.

I've been playing around with using starter strips and squares for a while now and have noticed that in the dadant brood frames the bees have been invariably building what I call a drone buffer at the 'front' of the comb between the worker brood and the hive entrance. I've not seen this behaviour (to any notable extent) in the BS combs which I have so am at a loss -so far- to know whether it's a result of having a larger comb area which in turn allows for greater flexibility in where they can choose to put drone brood or (maybe more probably) a result of the wider dadant frame spacing.

Whatever the reason it does show that there's stuff to be learnt by observing bees doing their own thing.

[gavin]

Fascinating comment on the possible effect of frame spacing. As my bees are on Hoffmans and there are often 12 in a National brood box they must be squeezed together a little tighter than some colonies - does this suppress or delay drone production?

And why drones near the door - do the bees know that they are running out of space in that direction? Does drone brood do better in cooler spots such as the bottom corners of slabs of worker brood and nearer the door? Does the pattern of drone brood change in polyhives?

cheers

Gavin