At 01:40 PM 4/1/96 EST, you wrote:
>     Gentlepeople:
>
>        I went into my two hives yesterday (3/31/96) BEFORE the April Fools
>     Day Winter Hit in the Midwest.  The temp was then in mid 60s in Dayton
>     Ohio (39.90N) around 330 pm.
>
>        I did some reversing, pulled Apistran Strips out of the hives
>     (after having them in for exactly 49 days), checked on stores and
>     pollen, and did general cleanout.  Everything looked good, the best I,
>     in my four years of losing hives to mites and ignorance, had ever seen
>     -- lots of bees bringing in white yellow pollen, several frames with
>     what looked like raw nectar/honey in them, bees doing the "wag tail",
>     and generally bees doing normal bee stuff.
>
>        However, something I saw puzzled me.  I saw drones, not to many,
>     but enough to clearly indicate that the queen had been laying drone
>     eggs at least 30 days ago (March 1?).  For those who might jump to the
>     conclusion that I had a drone layer, not so.  There was plenty of
>     regular worker brood, nearly 7-9 frames worth.
>
>        The question is, is this early for drones?  I was not expecting to
>     see them for at least another month.  Does their presence this early
>     in our season mean anything or is it normal?  Dare I hope that it is a
>     GOOD sign for a change?
>
>     Yours,
>     Mark Egloff
>     [log in to unmask]
>     Hobby Beekeeper and Amateur Student of Bee-ology
 
 
As a beginner bee keeper bees being bees I think if you have queen cells the
bees know they will need drones.
Daniel D. Dempsey
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