DroneDrone SaturationSaturation For Small Scale Operations

Larry Connor Drone Holding Colonies (DHCs) are special colonies that are made up much like a cell finisher used in queen production, but instead of finishing queens, you will use it to finish and hold drones. Here’s How.

What is drone saturation? isolation, or uses instrumental in- increase the genetic diversity of the The idea behind drone satura- semination, there is a very high drones being produced for mating. tion is based on several bits of probability queens will mate with The use of a single drone source knowledge of bee mating biology. some undesirable drones (what I works against the natural instinct First, we’ve known for a long call non-target drones in the rest of of the virgin to mate with a mixture time that a virgin queen mates with this discussion). of drones that are not genetic broth- more than one drone. Recently, Dr. Third, if a virgin queen mates ers. This is a huge change in think- David Tarpy of North Carolina State with 13 drones, that means that ing for a lot of people, like myself, University wrote that the average there must be many more unsuc- coming from the background of pro- queen mates with 13 drones (13.2 cessful drones produced to provide ducing a drone line for the Starline is the mean), with the range from the best of the successful sexual and Midnite hybrids. In the past our one drone to 45. Think about it – 45 partners. If only a small percentage goal was to saturate the mating area drones, that is a lot of drones for of all the drones are successful in (not mating yard) with drones of one one virgin queen. She must have mating (as suggested in the litera- desirable type. These were closely been quite the drone killer. But even ture), it means that the beekeeper related drones, coming from the at 13, the numbers add up if you must provide a huge number of same drone mother breeder. Now, are mating dozens or hundreds of drones for every queen so that she David Tarpy and Tom Seeley’s ob- virgins at the same time. is fully mated. It serves no purpose servations are clear – that in na- Second, we know that drones or benefit for virgin queens to mate ture, mating to closely related and virgin queens from the same with weak drones, poor fliers, drones is not desirable. colony have different behaviors in drones with development problems Diversity is to be celebrated in selecting the mating area they fly (poor pollen nutrition, exposure to the beehive when it comes to the to (the Drone Congregation Area or coumophos, diseased conditions in variation of the queen’s mating DCA). Virgins seem to fly out fur- the hive, etc.), and old drones partners. To achieve this level of ther than the drones, probably in (known to carry diseases to variation will require the use of response to some evolutionary in- queens). multiple, unrelated drone sources, stinct to prevent inbreeding. This but all of target lines. creates a real headache for the bee- Flooding an area with drones With Varroa destructor well es- keeper wanting to control mating in of diverse genetics tablished in North America, and his or her queen rearing operation. There are two aspects of the with the African bee working it’s way Unless the beekeeper has access to drone flooding activity. First, you through the southern parts of the an isolated area, creates artificial must produce a large number of tar- country, many beekeepers are look- get (desirable and compatible) ing for ways to provide a local, ac- drones to mate with the virgins you climatized stock of honey bees that will produce. Second, you must will provide healthy, vigorous colo- This article has evolved from somehow get rid of or restrict non- nies that have mite tolerance/re- talks I gave at the Southern target drones (those of unknown sistance, and mated in such a man- Adirondack Beekeepers Associa- characteristics, incompatible genes, ner as to eliminate any intrusion tion annual seminar in March or African origin). by African bees. Colony vigor is a (Albany), and at the Maine State To increase disease resistance, key aspect of these programs, and Beekeepers Association (Au- the beekeeper should take steps to essential for successful queen pro- gusta) in April. duction. 32 BEE CULTURE June 2006 Flooding with target drones If you are a sideline beekeeper with 40 colonies, you are in luck, because I am going to pick that colony number as a model for our discussion about queen production in a mating area that you have man- aged for drone saturation. Tradition- ally, beekeepers have attempted to obtain saturation by moving in an adequate number of colonies to guarantee target drones. In our model, this would mean that you will need to move in all your colo- nies, all 40 of them, into the queen mating area you have worked to de- velop. If you have selected a some- what isolated area where there are few surrounding colonies, or if you found a secure, large location owned by a single landowner, or if you have Isolated mating area in Louisiana used by the USDA-ARS laboratory in Ba- just been lucky and fallen into a ton Rouge to mate Russian lines of queens. Under these conditions, there are no other drones available, and the mating takes place if not interrupted good mating area, there is an ex- by dragonflies, hurricanes and other problems. The tower used to take this cellent chance that this area is not photo was destroyed by last year’s hurricanes. (Photo provided by USDA/ ideal for nectar production. So you ARS Baton Rouge Bee Laboratory) are trading good mating success for all the queens you plan to produce A typical DHC or drone holder at all times. I also recommend the for a large chunk of the honey crop. colony is made up of four frames of sugar syrup be medicated to protect Well, that just doesn’t make drone brood from target drone pro- the colony against Nosema apis. If much sense. Moving bees is hard ducing colonies, three or four you are concerned about Varroa lev- work (with 40 colonies I doubt you frames of worker brood, adhering els, you may want to treat with have mechanized the colony mov- bees (no laying queen), and frames Apistan, but do so with caution. ing process). It will cost you labor, of pollen and honey. I suggest you Between the time you make up fuel costs and lost queens to move attempt to harvest one frame of the DHC and the time the drones those bees, plus you have written drone brood from each target drone- are ready to fly in your mating area, off part, maybe all of your honey producing colony, which will be all move the colonies to within one crop. Fortunately, there is a way to 40 colonies if we do this right. To quarter to one half mile of the mat- avoid most of these problems. this we will add one caged virgin ing yard where the queens are be- Drone Holding Colonies queen – healthy and vigorous but ing produced. This is a recommen- (DHC’s) are special colonies that are caged so she cannot fly. This queen dation Dr. G.H. Cale, Jr., made to made up much like a cell finisher is the essential part of the DHC or all the Starline and Midnite hybrid used in queen production, but in- drone holder colony. Her presence producers; he knew from experience stead of finishing queens, you will tells the bees, biologically anyway, that this gave better queen mating use it to finish and hold drones. You that they are undergoing queen re- than obtained if all the drone pro- can remove frames of drone brood placement, since there is no queen ducing colonies were located within (at the sealing stage or later) and laying in the combs. Further, she is sight of the mating nucs. He actu- put the frame into a special hive producing pheromones and will sup- ally tested this idea in the 1950s body. Between these you will insert press the development of laying using the Cordovan genetic marker, frames of worker brood. All the ad- workers and queen cell production. a recessive trait. It works. hering bees go along for this, check- The latter is not absolute, so you If you know there are other ing for the queen as you go through will need to check the DHC in seven colonies in your mating area of two each colony. You will build a nine to 10 days to make sure that no to five miles, make every attempt or 10 frame colony in this manner, queen cells are produced. If a queen to either requeen the colonies with and use it to mature drones in the is produced and starts to lay brood, desirable target drone stock, or brood stage, sexually finish the the drones will be neglected and screen the entrances so that drones drones so they are optimally ready rejected by the worker bees; the are unable to fly. Note, that if you to mate, and hold them during mat- numbers of drones will drop from put a piece of queen excluder on the ing attempts. And, instead of mov- thousands found in a healthy DHC entrance of a strong colony filled ing all your 40 colonies into the colony to a few hundred found in a with drones, you can kill the colony mating area, you will move just the colony with a laying queen. during the afternoon mating flight DHC’s, cutting your labor and fuel The DHC should be fed sugar as the drones struggle to get costs while keeping the rest of your syrup (I use a top feeder so drones through the excluder and stop off colonies in their honey production are not lost in a division board the normal air flow and suffocate the locations. What could be better? feeder) as well as pollen supplement colony. Queen and drone traps fun- June 2006 BEE CULTURE 33 T There are several advantages to this system. None of the queen introduction or queen rearing needs to be done in the early to mid Spring. Don’t even think about starting until after the fruit bloom is over – for either year! nel drones away from the entrance. this first season, I strongly recom- Or, use a full queen excluder over mend you eliminate any undesirable the entire bottom of the hive, so traits you observe: chalk brood, foul- both ventilation and worker bee brood, defensive behavior, and poor movement are minimally disturbed. hygienic behavior. In the latter, use the liquid nitrogen test to evaluate A Two year plan dead brood removal by colonies at Year one: In this 40-colony 24 and/or 48 hours after the treat- Drone flight in a bee flyway at the Univer- operation we will install queens ment. This will give you a valid in- sity of Nebraska at the June, 2005 Master from five lines of bees. These may dex of the level of hygienic activity Beekeeper Workshop organized by Dr. be daughters of survivor stock from in each colony. Eliminate and re- Marion Ellis. The cage contained queen lure (pheromone) on a cotton tab in the your own apiary or some other api- place non-hygienic bees, and keep cage. Virgin queens fly further than drones ary in the area. Or they may be an eye on the best for possible for mating, requiring drone colonies to be daughters of queens you have pur- breeding use. placed 1/4 to 1/2 mile away from the mat- chased from breeders and carry de- ing yard to create a successful mating area. sirable traits you want in your op- Year Two: In the Spring of the eration. These may include Russian, second year you will evaluate your SMR/VSH, Minnesota hygienic, New colonies again, eliminating those your laptop to record and weigh all World Carniolian, or other stocks that do not give you traits you want. the observations you have made. you have studied and want to intro- Some level of winter loss (5-10%) is Pick three and a few backups. duce into your apiary. I selected the desirable, since you want Winter You will now prepare to set up number of lines arbitrarily, but it hearty stock to survive. From the drone holding colonies. If all 40 colo- offers an affordable method of get- surviving colonies, select the three nies are in production (you have ting drone mothers from diverse ge- best and keep them aside as graft- filled in any poor performers from a netic lines working for your drone ing mothers for queen cell produc- few nuclei you keep at all times). diversity plan. I suggest you install tion. You may pick the ones you feel For as long as you want to mate eight queens from all five stocks, you like the best based on your bee- queens (something you decide), ev- giving you young, vigorous queens keeping experience, or you may de- ery two weeks you will make up and from the different stocks. During velop a complex selection index on move 40 frames of drone brood from

34 BEE CULTURE June 2006 target drones source colonies and put them into DHC’s. Locate these colonies into the mating area. If the average colony gives you a drone brood frame with a patch of brood yielding about 2000 drones (1,000 on each side), (there’s about 4,000 on each side of a drone-comb frame) this will provide you with 80,000 drones at the time of mat- ing. These are not ordinary drones, but ones from colonies you have worked to select and tested for an entire season. While I still cannot tell you how many drones you need for each queen you produce (if only it were that easy!), these 80,000 drones will provide 500 drones for each one of 160 queens you attempt to mate, or 80 drones for each of a 1,000 queens. (Remember you need a minimum of 13 drones/queen.) Using the first example, if you mate 160 queens every two weeks in your mating area, you will have gener- ated well-mated queens. Repeating this labor over two to six cycles (de- Drone comb (green) in a target colony for drone production. This frame pending on your season and per- could be left in this colony or moved to a DHC for mating. sonal schedule) a 40 colony opera- tor could be producing and market- ing hundreds of locally acclimatized for 10 weeks, that is, well, you have DHC’s may be made up in one queens for local beekeepers, and at already done the math by now. region of the country or state and $15 per queen, this could add up to Once the drones in a DHC moved to another, creating early a tidy sum. colony are depleted, the colony is season mating conditions; or mat- There are several advantages to not lost. Install a newly mated ing during a dearth by heavily feed- this system. None of the queen in- queen (remove the caged virgin – she ing all participating colonies. The troduction or queen rearing needs is too old to mate now, poor thing), DHC’s may be trucked to mating to be done in the early to mid spring. and treat the colony as an increase areas in remote locations with much Don’t even think about starting colony. Or split the bees into groups less trouble than large numbers of until after the fruit bloom is over – for winter nuclei. Add frames of full-sized production colonies. BC for either year! This will give you brood to balance the colony’s age de- time to build colonies, equalize and mographics. If you make up drone Larry Connor says his new book, In- boost them, even use them for fruit holding colonies all Summer, you crease Essentials, is nearly done, and will tree pollination, and get prepared may have doubled your total colony be available soon after you read this. He for the drone and queen producing count. You can do some math here doesn’t mind if you contact him at effort. If you sell 50 queens a week too. [email protected] to reserve a copy.

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