found my new breeder queen!

[rookie2531]

I was just taking some brood frames from a strong hive today to get my weak nucs off to a better start. And of course I needed to make sure she wasn't on a frame I took. But right away, this was something special. Brood frames full. I mean full. Wall to wall, top to bottom! Really wish I had my camera with me, next time I will.

I also found her. Big and beautiful. I thought my other breeder queen was big. She got her beat. She is a result from a walk a away split I did last July 10. I haven't seen her since last summer and don't remember her being this big, but glad I spotted her today.

[Old Blue]

What time of year do your hives make the most drones?
It sounds like you hit a sweet spot for mating when you made your split, as well as getting a good one!

I've decided I'm going to try making some queens and splits next year. 

Old Blue

[rookie2531]

Had to go back and take a few pics.

[rookie2531]

I'm sorry Blue, I think they made the most drone brood early spring. It was kind of weird and maybe different for me. I used mostly foundation less medium frames for there honey supers and almost the whole frames were drawn drone. It was like she wanted to get them out of the way before she got to work on the worker brood, But my first inspection was well before Easter and they were just busting out the seems with bees.