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Is this a drone?

4K views 9 replies 7 participants last post by  CaBees 
#1 ·
People are asking if I'm seeing drones.. This one outside the box after I opened the hive and closed it again...not much flying around. Big eyes, darker then the other bees. Yup, I'm a newbie. Does this look like a drone to you?

thanks!
Insect Invertebrate Honeybee Bee Megachilidae


PS here is another bee for comparison..most flying around looked like this one..

Insect Bee Honeybee Megachilidae Invertebrate
 
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#2 ·
Yup. The scale of the photos appear different. The drones have bigger eyes and bodies are larger than workers, but the workers third section or abdomen has a longer shape. Drones also wander around with nothing to do in comparison to the activity of workers.

If it weren't for the shadow, I'd think the "another bee" could be a queen. They have a significantly longer abdomen than the workers.
 
#3 ·
the first pic looks like a regular young fuzzy worker bee, probably newly hatched. The second pic looks like a young queen , i mean look how long that abdomen is. I don't think either is a drone. I saw drones in my hive for the first time this past Sunday and they were much larger than the workers with a wide abdomen that is almost squared off blunt at the posterior end. And their eyes are huge in comparison to the workers... it was an easy tell on the difference btw a worker and a drone in my hive. Then again pics can be deceiving and I am still a noob.

Sully
 
#4 ·
thanks all, I guess I have to just keep observing. I think bee.jpg may just be young because of how short the wings are. The scale is definately different and cropped from larger photos. Here is one more of a bunch of them for comparison.
Bee Honeycomb Honeybee Beehive Insect
 
#5 ·
First one looks like a drone to me. It's real obvious when you see them side by side (even for a newbee). The other thing about drones is they sound loud when they buzz you. I've opened the hive up quickly without protection before to hear BZZZZZZZ, BZZZZZZ, BZZZZZZ and almost ran away screaming till I realized it was a drone messing with me. They're big, loud, and lumbering when they fly.
 
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