New To Me

I saw something in my bees Thursday that I've never seen before. It was queen catching day and I was marking and caging. I've seen workers kill queens. I've seen virgins kill queens. This was the first time I'd seen a queen kill a worker. I put that attendant into the cage with that new queen, and she never had a chance. My first reaction was to save the queen. It wasn't long before I realized that the queen was in complete control. I put her in the shade to "cool off", and added another worker. Yep, the queen went after her, but this time the worker offered her tongue and was accepted. I added 7 more attendants with no issues.

It must be those aggressive queens you are selecting for, Mike.

I want queens like that!

I hear queens can get moody during certain phases of the moon...

Pretty cool. I have also heard those northern raised queens knit little sweaters to wear in winter but that is just a rumor. ;)

Mine have my wife knit them sweaters. They look so cute!