Hello Vince,
         I'm not really worried about the drones in my colonies,I was confused
because ,being My first year keeping bees,I had read that the drones were
removed at the end of the season.I had seen drones each time I checked My
hives on a warm day.I had never seen too many,the normal amount You would see
on a summer day.Everything else seems normal,and the hives appear very
healthy.I can't wait 'till morning it is supposed to be around 70.F.Thanks all
who replied.  Garry Libby  [log in to unmask]
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From:   Discussion of Bee Biology on behalf of Vince Coppola
Sent:   Saturday, February 22, 1997 2:29 AM
To:     [log in to unmask]
Subject:        Re: Early drones
 
Lets not get too upset about early drones. Strong colonies,
especialy when the winter is mild with many warm days will produce
drones pretty early. I think what Dr. Connor wants us to look for
(correct me if I'm wrong Larry)are colonies with drones that should have
been workers. That is the egg was laid in a worker cell, but turned out
to be a drone, because the queen ran out of sperm and the egg was not
fertilized. These drones may be smaller than a normal drone. Examine
some comb and look for "bullets" or "puff brood" (drones in worker
cells).