Lloyd Spear wrote, "producing drones will reduce honey consumption."  That
should be honey "production"!  For a number of reasons.  First, a hive that
is raising a lot of drones is not raising as many workers, hence the hive
will produce less honey.  Another reason is the hive that has a lot of
drones will be fueling a lot of drones.  The drones don't produce anything,
but they consume a lot!  It takes a lot of fuel (honey) to keep those drones
on the wing!  Now, if the drones are culled to combat varroa then the
workers won't have to fuel the drones to keep them on the wing, but the more
deprived a hive is of drones the more that hive will be in want of drones,
and will devote more and more resources to raise them!

This is not to advise for or against drone culling for varroa control, it's
just pointing out that there is a price that will be paid.  A hive totally
deprived of a drone population will be demoralized.  Again, timing is
everything, I'm referring to times when hives want drones for queen mating
as opposed to drone eviction time at the end of the season.  These musings
are based on a presentation by Dr. Thomas Seeley, "Drones, Good for the Bees
or Good for the Beekeeper?"

Aaron Morris - thinking there's more to drones than meets the eye!

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