What do you think of this queen?

[Lburou]

What do you think of the appearance of this queen's wings? She came in a NUC last month, and with the comb you see. Haven't noticed wingtips with that kind of wear on a queen before, what does it tell us? Several mating flights in big winds???

bees 007.jpg

She had some empty cells here and there at first, and some cells with two eggs the first week she came to us. Brood pattern is solid now with almost every available cell filled with eggs and brood. Laying pattern has improved since the frame below.

bees 003.jpg

[Charlie B]

Hard to say for sure from the pic but it looks like the one wing was clipped.

[Lburou]

Thanks Charlie for your reply, Here is a better picture.

This is a close up of the queen inspecting a cell....You can see the wing tips are missing some tissue....Like the foragers get after a life of getting nectar. Any thoughts?

[Jaseemtp]

I had a queen whos wings looked tattered like that. She was a 2 year old queen and I figured it was normal wear and tear. She was an egg laying machine but her kids were mean mean mean.

[KQ6AR]

Gotta say, that's a very nice picture.