BEEKEEPING
congregation area, where all the drones in a large
radius gather. She will then mate in succession with
between 28-32 drones collecting and storing enough
sperm to lay eggs for many years to come.
Mating with so many drones ensures good genetic
diversity within t he hive, so although the worker bees
in a hive all have the same mother, they may have
different fathers. Unfortunately for the drones the
mating process ends in their deaths.Why find the queen?
As a beekeeper we want to check on the health and
wellbeing of our queen, as the colonies survival depends
on it. She needs to have a nice, long, full-lookingabdomen indicating she has mated well. She should
have all her wings, antennae and legs. Sometimes if a
queen is damaged the bees will want to replace her. We
also need to check she is laying well with a tight brood
pattern, that is to say large areas of brood (eggs or larva)
clustered together of the same or similar age. Queens can
live 4-5 years, but their most productive time is the fi rst
two years, after that you need to consider retiring her
and requeening your hive to ensure ongoing health and
productivity. The golden rule is: requeen as needed.How do I find her?
The most common bee that beginners think are the queen
are drones as they are much larger and visibly different
from the workers. Queens are certainly diffi cult to spot,
but there are a few tricks that can help you fi nd her:- Queens have a long fat abdomen; they also have a
thorax that is black and bald-looking compared to the
workers. Her legs are generally also a lighter colour. - She moves differently. Workers will crawl all over each
other in their movements about the hive. However,
workers generally move aside for queens and she will
push her way through the workers to inspect cells. Her
pace is more methodical and searching. - Look for workers parting or moving out of the way or
following and touching a larger bee. Very occasionally
you may see the queen motionless surrounded by a ring
of her attendants. - If the queen is on the frame you remove from a hive
she will usually move to the dark side of the frame, that
is the side away from you, so turn it over to look. Be very
careful when you inspect frames, always hold them over
the open hive as she can fall off and she certainly can
still fl y if she wants too. - The best method for fi nding her is to scan the frame
slowly from bottom right to left, the opposite to what
most people instinctively do, this will slow you down and
your looking will be more focused. Remember that queen
spotting takes practice and patience and you will get
better and better the more you do it.
Drones
Drones arise from unfertilised eggs, having one copy of
the queen’s genes. Reproduction without fertilisation is
a process known as parthenogenesis. In a bee colony it
means that drones have a grandfather but no father.Left: When comparing a Queen bee (on the left) to
other bees in a hive look for one that has a long, fat
abdomen and a thorax that is black and bald looking.
Below: A developing virgin queen has a larger cell.PHOTOS: TOP LEFT: ISTOCK/TOP BELOW: KELLY LEES/DRONES: ISTOCK.86