# Drone Comb



## NewJoe (Jul 1, 2012)

You can move them to the outside position next to the hive wall and when they get things like they want them they will fill them with honey.

It is possible with a big explosion of drone brood that they may be doing some swarm prep. So be on the look out for a possible swarm in a week or so. They may not swarm, but sometimes lots of drone at once will be followed by a swarm.


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## fruitveggirl (Mar 8, 2013)

Hi, Chri157y, I did a partial inspection today, and I think I'm in a similar situation that you found yourself in. Just curious what you ended up doing.


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## chr157y (Feb 14, 2013)

I'm going to move the bar of drone comb to right before the first honey bar, and they give them an extra empty bar to replace the drone comb. I'm concerned about giving them another empty bar, b/c they barely have any honey stores. However, since it seems like they're going to swarm, I'm not sure what other choice there is.


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## fruitveggirl (Mar 8, 2013)

Thanks for the response. Fingers crossed for you!


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## DrWeevil (May 16, 2010)

I often see almost all drone brood on some combs, like what you are reporting here. I just leave them be. They know what they're doing. I do open space in the brood area if I see two very nice capped worker brood combs. That seems to discourage them from swarming, and the two brood combs on either side of the empty bar serve as guides to get you nice new straight comb. As for the empty queen cups, that too seems to be perfectly normal.


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## fruitveggirl (Mar 8, 2013)

Thanks, DrWeevil!


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## chr157y (Feb 14, 2013)

Just thought I'd do a quick follow-up. I moved the drone comb to right before the first honey bar. They continued to build wax on the comb, and it's the first bar that they've attached to the sides and bottom. :no: Crazy bees! It's been in the 90s here all week, so I'm going to let it go until things cool down. I'm anxious to see if they've been backfilling it or it there will be fresh larva.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

I try to put the drone on the edges of the brood nest because when they are done rearing drones they tend to backfill the drone comb with honey. If you have a complete comb of drone that gets capped it splits up the brood nest and the queen may fail to cross it to lay on the other side.


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