"These drones did not seem inclined or able to fly.  There were
no worker bees on the ground."

Dear All

Once again I stand to be corrected, but have done some chatting about this
problem you are experiencing.
There are numerous problems which may have caused this issue.
The first of these, and the least likely, is that these drones were white
eyed or blind drones. Because they were unable to see, they were unable to
orientate and hence unable to fly meaningfully.
The second possibility is that these drones were chilled during their
development.  The chilling prevents satisfactory development of the wing
muscles, hence resulting in flightless drones.
The third possibility is that your drones have contracted one of a suite of
"Drone Paralysis Virusses" - DPV's
These virusses are often transmitted by varroa and may indicate that the
varroa are developing a level of resistance to your means of controlling
them.

Irrespective, there is little you may do to solve this problem.  The 1st and
last problems would probably be solved by requeening in the hope that you
would lose the white eyed gene in the process, or introduce a strain of bees
more resistant to DPV's.

Hope this answers your question.

Paul Collett
Makana Meadery/Department of Entomology, Rhodes University
Grahamstown, South Africa
www.iqhilika.co.za
A.m. capensis
A.m.scutellata
810mm annual precipitation

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and  other info ---
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::