freebsd bhyve instance does not show kernel messages after boot screen

Hello list,

context is freebsd-12 r317212 host and freebsd-11-stable r333924 guest

I run this freebsd instance in screen. I start it like this:

vmrun.sh -c 4 -m 8192M -t tap3 -d fbsd-guest.img fbsd-guest

It starts, I get the daemon screen, then this:

/boot/kernel/kernel text=0x70572d data=0xa5648+0x340ac0 
syms=[0x8+0xc0c78+0x8+0xde421]
/boot/entropy size=0x1000
Booting...
Unhandled ps2 mouse command 0xe1

and that's it. The guest loads, is functional, I can ssh into it, etc.

Other freebsd-11 VMs started in the exact same way on the same server 
give the expected messages scrolling up when the VM starts. Why is this 
VM different and how can I fix? There was a time when the messages were 
displayed, then one day they didn't.

I've built/installed a new world/kernel on this VM to no effect.

thanks,
-- 
J.