Fellow keepers of the bee,
 
   I visited a bee yard the other day and from a distance I could see numerous
bees on the ground.  As I got closer I could tell that most of them were dead
and a few were moving about. The good thing about it is they all were drones.
As I stood and watched for a while I witnessed other drones being dragged out
of the hive and dropped to the ground.  This hive stand holds three hives and
is eight inches of of the ground.  I know that this is normal behavior in the
fall but find it odd this early in the season.  The other two hives were
normal in that they did not have dead drones at their entrances.  I did have
a skunk in a trap in front of this hive a couple of days ago. He of course
left his calling card before going to skunk heaven.  I looked into the hive
and all appeared normal with lots of stores left from winter. What goes here.
Thanks for any ideas that may give me a clue as to what is going on.
 
       Ron Harriger Cambridge Springs Pa.