Well good comments thank you.

PeterD wrote ...
> in Western Australia, where sometimes last seasons old drones can 
> still be in the hives in the following spring!
>
>
Well yes, there was a good supply of pollen on the frames.  I do not 
know the source of the pollen, I can only guess that it is wild flower 
since the hives are in a Longan (poor pollen source) orchard area and it 
is only the wild flowers growing in the orchards grass that is visible. 
   Normally what happens is that the rains start and the nectar and 
pollen ceases to be available.  Then all the drones get kicked out and 
the queen stops (or materially reduces) laying for a while.  The rains 
get more consistent and there is some flooding.  At that time the 
hornets have reappeared and start getting serious about feasting on 
bees.   As the rains ease off the hornets change their food source and 
the queens start laying well.  This gives sufficient time to build the 
colonies back up to full strength just before the first nectar flow in 
December.   Drones are certainly present at the coldest time of year, 
January (but I would not call 13C cold).  The coldest time is also the 
driest time.  The hottest time of year is April and that is marked by 
the start of the rains.  I would agree with your suggestion that there 
was a stronger correlation of drone populations with the supply of food 
sources than there is to temperature.

What has made me wonder in this case is the disproportionate large 
number of drones.  I would guess that 20% of the bees are drones and 
that to me appears to be rather a lot.   Perhaps this is a reflection of 
my experience but such a large number is new to me.   Especially since I 
am used to seeing decreasing populations at this time.  In other 
colonies at my own sites I am seeing some drones together with perhaps 
queen cells appearing but these are so very different to these two hives 
which is why I was curious of the cause.  I am going to split the 
colonies next week and move the splits to see if the same behaviour 
continues on both the splits and the source.



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