I have found that brood rearing season is more related to pollen
availability than pure weather. Pollen here is significantly reduced after
typical early August frosts. We then typically get another 1 and half
months of warmer weather but with not natural pollen sources. Regardless of
weather the brood nest starts dwindling late July (pollen availability) and
is done by mid-August without beekeeper intervention (patties). Three years
ago I ran some experiments to test the impact of patties on queen laying
and have since started using supplemental nutrition to stretch the season.
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