Young and old queen differences?

[rand]

Hello all

Im new beekeeper, living in the desert part of israel and started with 2 hives just before two weeks.

can someone tell me the visual differences between young queen and old one
or write me any link to picture that shows those differences.

Thank you
Randi

[Michael Bush]

There is no visible difference between a six month old queen that is laying and a seven year old queen that is laying. You can tell a newly emerged queen by her fuzzy back and small size. But once she is laying there is no way to tell her age that I know of.

[rand]

Michael, thanks for your answer.
Another beeginer question:
Without checking for new eggs,
Is there any significant visual differences between
virgin oueen and laying one?

Thanks,
Randi

[jonathan]

The virgin is usually smaller and it moves more quickly over the comb

[Velbert]

a virgin queen is smaller in length and moves across the come faster a laying queen is fast moving and will hold her tail off the comb when she is just a few weeks old then becomes a little slower and drags her tail across the comb


if you will look real close a queen that is 2 or 3 years old will have tatered wings may move even a bit slower than a year old queen and some of her hair is ware off making her look darker

all bees are dark under their hair. It is the hair that gives them their coloring.

[SwedeBee1970]

Sounds like the hair on their thorax is the key to age. The fuzzy hairs wear out to infrequent flights and close contact with the workers ?

[PCM]

Velbert
Thanks for the post.
Hopefully this spring I want to get several of your Russian Queens.

PCM

[Michael Bush]

>Without checking for new eggs,
Is there any significant visual differences between
virgin oueen and laying one?

I think it's been covered well in the posts above, but to recap: Virgin queens are difficult to find because they are flighty, like to hide and run, are often fuzzier, and are always smaller. Being smaller, running and not having the characteristic movement of a queen nor the characteristic size of a laying queen nor the characteristic shiny thorax of a queen, makes them very hard to see.