Overwintering drones?

[mpjourdan]

Is it normal for a very small number of drones to overwinter?  Do any drones overwintering means possible queen problems? 

I was scraping dead bees away from a hive entrance and out walked a drone.  I'm in Minnesota and I don't think there's anyway that was a new drone reared for spring, especially considering the small amount of stores they had left.  When I gave them a few frames of honey I figured I see real proplems, but I just saw one other drone and everything else seamed good.  I don't know what they were doing there, just extra mouths to feed.

[Understudy]

One drone is no biggie. He may have dropped in for a visit from another hive.

Take him to pub where all the unmated queens hang out for happy hour. He will be grateful.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

[Michael Bush]

>Is it normal for a very small number of drones to overwinter?  Do any drones overwintering means possible queen problems?

My ferals always overwinter a few.  This time of year a booming hive might even raise a few.  A lot of drones in a hive is suspicious and not throwing MOST of them out in the fall is suspicious.  But a few would not worry me.

[Mici]

saw first drone just yesterday, a fresh one :-D