Cow dung, curvy combs and signs of spring

March 20th and the temperatures are over 74 degrees, sunny and the wind stays still. Time to peak in on the bees. I use cow dung, or horse manure, broken into pieces, for my smoker fuel. I light some twisted up newspaper or dry weeds, and add this to the smoker first. I then puff the smoker a few times until the paper is burning hot and then I add the dung on top. It smells surprisingly great and is slow burning.

There is no sign of drones (male bees) in the hive. Only eggs in drone comb. I consider it too early to split this hive into 2 because there probably aren't too many mature drones to impregnate a virgin queen in the neighborhood. Here is a great link to test the maturity of drones: beeclass/ drone

Peach blossoms where I watched small black and blue native bees, bumble bees and honey bees chase each other off the blooms.