Printable View
I opened up my thriving hive to find a full box of honey on top and lots and lots of bees. When I worked my way into the brood nest I found plenty of larva, eggs and capped brood and also two small patches of capped drone brood. This seems unusual to me so early in the season in Minnesota but the weather has been unseasonably warm and there is a lot of pollen and nectar coming into the hive. Has anyone else made similar observations?
I look forward to hearing what you all have to say.
Yep, I have some too. Everything is way early. I am a half hour east of MSP.
I saw capped drone brood last week. Today I saw the drones in the hive!
Central Indiana
Much earlier than last year!
D
I have drone brood in the top box of the two hives I have checked. Plus lots of capped brood.
lots of capped brood and capped drones here in W michigan, no drones have emerged yet
Drones have not emerged from their capped cells here in north Arkansas but 14 miles South of me they have been flying for 2 weeks!
i have drones walking around in the hive. should be flying this week.
all my hives had capped drone when I went through today supposed to get below freezing tonight and hover around freezing for 2 days. i guess time will tell what this season has in store for us.
Not in Minnesota, but we had drones at least 6 weeks before normal this year. Before I did my first inspections, I had some drones sitting on the porch of one hive, and I was worried I had a queen problem. Instead, I had a thriving hive that is way ahead of schedule. I sure hope this warm weather tapers off (86 today) or we are headed for another miserably hot summer. (I am going to Minnesota for a week this summer.)
Unbelievable! We are cold wet and snowy here, but it is all going to break any day. I have hazelnuts blooming! I saw a few drones the other day when i popped lids but they were ones that wintered. I have some hives so strong that I can't imagine how strong they will be in a month.
What an interesting year this will be! My guess is that the bees have a better sense of what is going on than I do so I plan to keep an eye on the bees and take notes and learn something new. Maybe this will be the year everyone pulls in a great honey crop ;)