I'm delighted to announced that 3 out of 3 hives survived the winter! They appear to be taken syrup left in the hive from last fall, and dry sugar in the bottom of another (topbars).
They've been flying a fair amount, and a local beek saw pollen coming in with his bees, so we must have something blooming. I have no idea what. The only thing I've seen so far is chickweed.
Anyway, I saw drones coming out of 1 hive this afternoon. What on earth?!? They didn't appear forced out, just came out, wandered around, then went back in. Any ideas why they weren't all kicked out last late summer?
I drones all winter. Just a few but a couple of hives seemed to tolerate a few all winter. I just found one freshly dead on top of a hive the other day on a marginal flight day.
I found a drone in one of my hives last Sunday. I wonder if the girls wanted to supersede the queen... :?
i was surprised myself the other day to see a few drones left inside the hive all winter who knows maybe thats for the early queens to get mated ?? Chris