Summer Drones

You will often see high drone traffic on your hive entrance this time of year.  And if you inspect your combs you will also find plenty of drones. This is normal.  At least one of your combs will have drone cells, normally clustered around the edge. Some beekeepers install a drone comb, or an empty comb, on which the queen will lay predominantly drone eggs. Varroa mites prefer drone cells, so the beekeeper will remove this drone comb once it is capped over and then kill the drone brood to kill the mites. This is often done as part of in integrated pest management program (IPM).