James asks:
What is the life span of a drone? Some reads say 2-3 weeks after hatching
best count on sperm and only lives . . . how long after I put these queens
in should I wait to reduce the likely hood of the leftover drones mating
this summer with my grafts?

Hi,
   The lifespan of a drone is highly variable, depending on as many factors
as the worker's lifespan plus the effect of the workers ceasing to feed
their brothers.  Rather than wait for them to die, it might be more
expedient to just trap them, feed them to the fish and be done with it.
Before putting much effort into it, remember that the queen goes to great
lengths to avoid mating with drones from her own hive (and probably her own
apiary, though 'apiary' is a relatively new factor in honey bee evolution.)
 Your drone mating pool could be a 10 mile radius (300+ square miles)
around your own hives.  Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Kristina Williams
Boulder, CO, USA

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