drones and undrawn foundation

[badgerbeekernube66]

Hey world of keeps! I hope to one day be answering more ? Than asking we have started our second hive and now have something to compare our first hive to. That being said, I've noticed that our first hive has been making more drone brood than the second at the same time in its development, also it seems that our hive 1 is not wanting to . Draw anymore comb, they have 6.5 frames filled in a 10 frame deep for 2 weeks.
 I was told that putting drawn foundAtion in between brood frames is a bad idea by a local keep, so haven't tried that yet.
Our next inspection on the "queen Marie" hive is Sunday and I will,again be taking some pics to post. Any ideas before I go in would be great. Thanks

[iddee]

The outside drawn comb frame likely doesn't have brood. You can move a foundation frame in between it and the first brood frame. Also, your friend is right if the weather is to be cold. The reason for not splitting the brood nest is chilling the brood. If the weather is warm enough, you can put foundation or foundationless frames between brood frames.

[Jen]

 

[riverbee]

couple questions badgerbeek, (ps good on you for going with 2 hives, this will greatly help you!)
drones are just a sign of ramping up, pollen and nectar coming in, UNLESS, the queen is failing. some hives will have a fancy for this (drone cells), so unless that's all that's happening, no worries.
what type of foundation are you using?
are you feeding syrup? feed until all frames are drawn.
also i don't like to add drawn foundation in the middle of a brood nest, but that's just me.  if it is undrawn, this becomes a barrier.

[badgerbeekernube66]

It's wax foundAtion river, also feeding sugar water and a pollen patty, the ladiesare using way more pollen patty than syrup lately. I am very anxious to look on Sunday, wife and I were over weeding the garden next to the hive today and found a worker be crawling outside the hive width deformed wings and couldn't fly. I immediately killed It and examined  for varroa and saw nothing on her.
 I've been suspicious of this hive after week two, I had noticed a bit more drone brood than what I thought should be there given what I had already researched about bees (I read a lot before I bought in), but I am new and know next to nothing I will take some pics Sunday and post them. . This will be 7 week inspection and I worried I may have behead queen marie

[efmesch]

Badger, if you've found a bee with deformed wings outside one of your hives, she was most likely thrown out by the bees inside.  She need not have any varroa on her.  But the very fact that she has deformed wings should be evidence enough that you've got varroa in you hive(s).  Especially as a newbie, you can be expected to find it difficult to spot them---even experienced keeps don't always see them in front of their eyes.   Often the easiest way to spot varroa in a hive is by uncapping a few sealed drone  cells.  You can easily spot the "black dots" on the developing white larvae. 
The presence of varroa in a hive is a solid explanation for all sorts of abnormal, undesirable situations inside--weakness, poor feeding, poor building, bad temper..... you name it.  Untreated, they will destroy your hive(s).
My suggestion is that without delay you start treatment against varroa----I won't make any specific recommendations other than say that there are a lot of threads dealing with the topic on the forum. 

[badgerbeekernube66]

Thanks ef. I will plan for minor surgery on a couple drones tomorrow. How many would be recommended for opening? Should I take from more than one frame?
Unreal that with a young hive I already could have this many of those destructor asshats causing damage. That worker is the fourth bee I've seen with dwv. Thanks again, to be continued........

[efmesch]

I have no rule of thumb on the topic, but would suggest at least 2-3 drone cells from any frame that has them.

[riverbee]

badgerbeek, i would also be checking the queens progress. eggs, and larvae.  one egg per cell, not multiple eggs, and not eggs or mulitple eggs laying on the sides of the cells. good solid brood pattern, if it's not, let us know what you see or post pics.

if they are taking more of the pollen patty, that's fine, indication of a shortage of pollen. they need pollen, or a pollen sub to raise the brood.

ef already covered how to check for mites......good luck, and keep us posted!

[badgerbeekernube66]

Hey guys and gals of the bee world!!!! We did our check of queen Marie today, it didn't rain all day as was forecasted. The pics didn't turn out as well as last time, though what I saw was encouraging.  I opened a few drone cells and found no mites on the creepy looking larvae....way more pleasing to look at after emergence the brood pattern is consistent, and the eggs I saw were resting at the bottom of the cell like they should be.
Though we still don't.know what to make of the dwv on the worker and drones we saw. We put the second brood box on, probably a little early.
I've been checking this hive every week, and was thinking maybe I should keep my nose out of their business for an extra week and see what happens? Any thoughts?

[iddee]

The drone larva look much better when fried lightly in olive oil. 

[riverbee]

lol.......... 
what iddee said, what you said.........

7-10 days, then pester them again..............

[badgerbeekernube66]

 Lmao.....you guys crack me up :-)

[riverbee]

lol, good thing we crack somebody up!............