Calum wrote:
(although some say the bees are happier with drones).
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I hope the “some” in Germany are in the majority. Drones are a necessary component in the bee colony. (ich nehme an da Sie eine Freundin oder eine Frau haben!!) The bees will immediately raise more drone brood to replace the ”lost” drones. The rearing of drones is the first act in the honey bee colony swarm preparations. As an aside a honey bee colony will not produce drones in quantity until the colony is prospering (“feel good factor”). Drone sacrifice is as barbaric as “das Schwefeln”. Pfefferle or some other progressive German beekeeper advocated using brood combs with the lower half of the comb cut away. The bees in the early spring always build drone comb, thus the empty space is filled with new drone comb, which when laid up and sealed can be removed with the adhering bees (leave mum at home tho!). By removing 2 such combs from each of any number of so treated colonies before the drones emerge the beekeeper has the facility to make up perhaps 4 or 5 frame nucleus colonies, which can then be treated with whatever poison the beekeeper wishes to kill the phoretic mites. Thus the drones saved will be useful for early mating and the worker brood when it emerges will swell the numbers of the bees initially entrained when the nucs were made up – the beekeeper thus has a number of new nucleus colonies virtually by default which may be given eggs; a virgin or a laying queen as Nachwuchs as opposed to committing biological vandalism.
I would you refer back to your footer “problem” Parole. However if a problem is not recognised as such – “Whatever!!”

Eric