Luis asks about drones for use in queen breeding.  My queen breeding is very
limited, only about 50 a year, but I have had a real interest in drones
since Varroa hit us, and I will share what I know:
- The "rule of thumb" used by queen breeders is that they want a minimum of
100 drones for each virgin queen.
- Queen breeders figure that drone eggs must be laid approximately 40 days
before they are needed.  Therefore, if you are planning on 20 virgins flying
on June 15, you must have at least 2,000 drone eggs laid by May 5.
- To avoid inbreeding, it is best to produce your drones in a yard 1-2
kilometers away from the yard used for grafting.  The idea is that these
drones will saturate the nearby drone congregation areas, and the virgin
queens will find those areas.
- In Europe I have seen queen breeders use one frame of drone foundation per
queenright hive, and use 5 queenright hives for every 100 virgins.  I
believe that comes to roughly 10,000 drones for every 100 virgins, or 100
drones per virgin.  In the US, where drone foundation is not readily
available, I have seen breeders cut away all but two inches (or so) of drawn
foundation, and let the bees rebuild cells; which will all be drone size.
Again, the breeder I know uses one such frame for every hive and five such
hives for every 100 nucs to be stocked with virgins.
 
While my queen rearing is very small, I used the above procedures last year
and was pleased with the results.  I hope these ideas help.
 
Lloyd
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Owner, Ross Rounds(tm), the finest in comb honey production.
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