The December solstice has just passed and for those of us in the northern
hemisphere the days are going to start getting longer.  Just when the
increased day length is going to be getting noticeable to us, in theory, the
queen will start laying a very small patch of new brood.  I say, in theory,
because I believe there is a clause in the contract I have with my girls
that says management is not allowed to open them up and peek in January and
February (I think its in the Canadian contract anyway :-)  Being a
benevolent boss I have never violated it.
 
I assume that the cue is increasing day length (certainly can't be
temperature here), but I really don't know, and the way some people pack up
their bees with tarpaper and insulation they don't get a whole lot of
"light" coming in.  Somebody recently posted a historical reference to
people wintering bees under sods in New Zealand and here in Prince Edward
Island people historicly wintered bees in cellars.  Both places don't have
much in the way of light cues.  So I wonder, is it light or do the bees have
a biological clock?
 
I am
Stan ,  and glad my bees are running on Carniolan time.