.. not the sharpest tools in the shed.
Drones....
.. not the sharpest tools in the shed.
My chisels are.
Drones are me best favourites
they never stings and they tells me nearly everything about the hive
Plus they sound great
And they make a silly noise and kind of headbutt you during colony inspections.
Futile behaviour when you know they are stingless.
It comes across as a cry for help rather than defence of the colony.
They should be marketed like hamsters or border terriers as ideal household pets.
Probably could be trained to use a litter tray.
But you are right, a colony producing copious quantities of drones, in the correct sized cells of course, is certainly feeling good about itself.
I brought home a frame of drone brood (from the DL Queens colony) where some were beginning to emerge. It was great for the children to watch the drones work their way out and to be able to handle them, particularly my 4-year old boy who is too young to go bee keeping. It really made his day! You never know, it may encourage them to become glove free bee-keepers when they grow up unlike their Mum.
Great stuffOriginally Posted by EmsE
I brought home a frame of drone brood (from the DL Queens colony) where some were beginning to emerge. It was great for the children to watch the drones work their way out and to be able to handle them, particularly my 4-year old boy who is too young to go bee keeping. It really made his day! You never know, it may encourage them to become glove free bee-keepers when they grow up unlike their Mum
I have become a bit more interested in drones lately because I wonder if they might not be a better guide to the queen's type than the chopping wings off workers method.
The genetecists on the forum and there are a couple might be able to say whether we should only see yellow or black drones
Possibly yellow/black drones exist I can't remember seeing any
I have seen plenty drones where they have thin bands of grey hair and are otherwise black
This makes me wonder if genetically black is dominant
If the gene for black is present is the gene for bands (if it exists) hidden or supressed
IF there is possible partial dominance can you get brown or tan coloured drones
Could drones tell us much more than they do at the moment ?
Course Dominant is the wrong word as it has a specific meaning in genetics and as Gavin already told me the Drone only has one copy of each gene therefore dominance in the sense doesn't apply
Also Rosie has already opened a thread on this subject so I am off piste (no not down the pub)
We're all allowed the odd duff post. It even happens to me (often drink is involved).
You might not even be entirely wrong DR as I think colour is controlled by more than one gene.
Gavin, you should dig out the info. re. colouration in drones and workers and give us all chapter and verse in layman's terms.
Apparently .... (after doing what scientific experts tend to do nowadays, Googling!) ....
- cross Amm x Aml and you get a yellow queen
- she will give a 1:1 ratio of black to yellow drones
So Italian yellow is dominant to Amm black and much of the effect is due to one gene. However there is a lot of variation within each class, so other genes have an effect too.
Drones and workers can do different things and different races do different things. For example Am adansonii has yellow workers and dark drones.
There are also maternal, effects too: make crosses the other way round and you get subtly different results.
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