Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
ally is gone. As this occurs, she lays more and more drones (unfertilized eggs turn into
drones) and fewer workers, creating an unbalanced hive population. Though a healthy,
prosperous colony can afford to support a large population of drones, it is the workers
that ensure colony advancement and survival.
To regain the balance, a fertile queen that produces mostly workers is needed. The
colony will produce another queen in the same way as in an emergency supersedure,
but with the insurance of the presence of the current monarch. The first queen to emerge
usually destroys those not yet emerged, leaving her in charge. Often, however, she and
her mother will remain in the colony, both going about their queenly duties—laying
eggs. If the old queen is still producing some workers, the colony enjoys a burst in pop-
ulation. Eventually, the older queen expires, leaving her daughter the sole monarch.
A frame that has drone comb scattered all over can be the work of a drone-laying queen,
or it can be in a colony that has laying workers. In either case, there is insufficient
worker brood, and the colony is generally demoralized and anxious.
You may find several supersedure cells on a frame and several frames with supersedure
cells. Or, there may be only one or two supersedure cells in the whole colony. It de-
pends on available resources and the availability of larvae of the right age for workers
to raise as queens.
Drone-Laying Queen
Occasionally, you will have a queen that you have just purchased—or even one you
have had for some time—that lays mostly unfertilized eggs, which produce drones. This
can happen if a queen was not mated, or was poorly mated because the queen produ-
cer did not have enough drones to mate with the queens, or if the weather during the
queen's short window of opportunity for mating did not allow her to fly to drone con-
gregation areas.
