On Thu, 20 Feb 1997 09:03:50 EST "Kevin D. Parsons"
<[log in to unmask]> writes:
>Jim,
>
 
>hive and
>2 others have young Starline queens. But, the hive with drones is much
>stronger
>than the
>other 2 and has plentiful winter stores. I presume that there could be
>a
>relationship between
>the good condition of the hive and the presence of drones.
>
>Kevin D. Parsons
>Pittsburgh  PA  USA
>
Hi Kevin,
                Feb. 23rd.
        I am inclined to subscribe to your conclusion. I suspected as
such when I observed the real strong colonies going into the winter. I
have noticed the drone population dwindling at a higher proportion than
workers throughout the winter. I bleed off bees fairly regularly for
therapy purposes and have been fairly observant as to this phenomena. I
have gone into about 50 colonies in the past few days and the conditions
are almost unbelievably good. Still see some drones but much more scarce
than a month ago. Perhaps the colonies well being was so good in the fall
the urgency to expel the drones was much less.
        I to have been using the push-in hardwre cloth etrance mouse
guards. They have been perminent fixtures for quite a few years now. You
have probably noticed how well the corpses are pushed through them the
past couple of warm days?
                Regards,
 
Alden Marshall
B-Line Apiaries
Hudson, NH 03051
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tel. 603-883-6764