Frame Guide › Management
Normal Drone Comb: what it looks like on the frame
May · the bottom edge of a frame from a strong, healthy hive.
Domed drone cappings, but only in a band along the bottom edge — and the worker brood above it is solid and correct. That's a healthy colony doing what it's supposed to in May. A failing queen's drone brood fills worker cells all over the frame, not in a tidy band at the margin.
Nothing — leave it
Drones are how your genetics get into the next generation of queens in your area, and a spring colony wants a good number of them. Scraping out every bit of drone comb just makes the bees rebuild it and wastes their wax. Cutting drone brood is only a tactic when you're deliberately using it as a mite trap — and then you must actually remove it before the brood emerges.
Easy to mistake for
- Drone-Laying QueenQueen is present, but the brood looks bumpy and raised all over.
- Laying WorkerA colony that's been loud and 'roary' for weeks. No calm hum.
- Swarm CellsEarly May · booming population, bees boiling out the front.
Could you spot this with the lid off?
Read the Frame deals you 8 random frames. Say what you see, say what you'd do, and find out why. It's free and runs on your phone.
Drill management → Mixed round (all 32 frames) →More management
- Honey-Bound Brood NestStrong flow on. Bees crowding, and the queen seems to have nowhere to go.
- Starved ColonyLate March · they were flying in December. Now, silence.
- Pollen-Bound Brood NestA heavy pollen flow on, and a small colony that isn't growing.
- New Colony Drawing CombTwo weeks after you installed a package on fresh foundation.
- Uncapped Honey SuperLate June · a super frame, heavy in your hand. You're thinking about pulling honey.
- Moldy CombSpring · frames from a hive that died in January, left in the damp box since.
- Fall Brood NestEarly October · a strong colony, the goldenrod flow just ended.
These frames are drawn to teach the pattern, and real frames vary. From The Alleman Apiary in Middletown, PA.