It is March 11th and I am finding dead and dying drones at my hive door. I thought this would only occur during the fall. What is going on in the hive to cause this?
Hi Richard
Frankly I don't know why this is happening. But you're right, in the fall the worker bees will take the drones to the entrance of the hive and throw them out, not allowing them back in. The drone aren't needed until the spring so aren't allowed to consume the hive's resources during the winter.
Since you're in Napa it may be that the drones weren't excluded in the fall because the winters are so mild. I wonder whether since these drones were probably left from last year, rather than being newly raised, perhaps they're dying of old age and are being removed to the entrance by the workers.
I'm in San Diego, in a swarm I saw yesterday, I noticed quite a large number of drones, more than I usually see in a swarm.
This is pure conjecture but I don't think I would be worried so long as it's only drones which seem to be effected in this way. If there were workers dead and dying at the entrance of the hive I think I would suspect they might have encountered some insecticide near the hive.
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