I was watching my bees after putting a coat of primer on the neighbor's fence a yard or so from my hive when the first drone I've seen this year crawled out and made a VERY short cleansing flight (he more or less fell off the landing board into the grass, did his "buisiness" and flew back in). That capped drone brood I saw two weeks ago must be emerging.

I need to get some LGO and set up traps pronto, I guess. Need to do a full hive inspection tomorrow as well, and look at my brother's, too. Should be time to make splits and trap swarms -- at least three weeks early this year.

Peter