Hello Thomas Martin,
A drone is at its peak sexual ability at the age of 12 days, and most drones
shipped
to you in packages or nucs were certainly older than that.  Further, by MY
standards I would be badly disappointed if I received a package or a nuc with
more than 10-20 drones; and find another source of bees.

It is a totally different subject, but important here regarding your problem.
 There
are dozens of people "out there" selling packages, nucs, and particularly
queens.
However, there are only a FEW out of these dozens who really know anything
about
queen genetics or the importance of the drones in their apiary.  I refer to
most
of these people as "producers", whereas I call those few knowledgeable people
"BREEDERS."

The difference between a top-flight colony and a poor colony is the GENETICS
of the QUEEN, AND the GENETICS of the DRONES that the breeder used to field
breed the virgin queens.  This is why the highly knowledgeable queen BREEDERS
study and select a line of drones that they want in their apiary for field
breeding
of their virgin queens.  Hence they IMPORT (from another U. S. queen breeder)
a new
line of queens for the sole purpose of drone production of their virgin queens
for the next year or so.  Producing GOOD queens is a highly skilled process
and
requires the study of entomology, honey bee genetics, and diligent bee
management.
Many "bee suppliers" lack this knowledge, and YOU suffer the consequences
rather
than having a highly successful colony in your apiary.

If the worker bees are well satisfied with their queen and a nectar flow is
meager,
it is not unusual to see these old drones caste out of the colony to starve.

I hope I have helped!

George Imirie
Certified Master Beekeeper
Beginning my 72nd year of beekeeping near Washington, DC

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