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virgin or newly mated queen? pic inside

5K views 34 replies 18 participants last post by  Mr. Biggs 
#1 ·
So I treated a overwintered nuc so well this spring they swarmed on me on or about the 30/31 of May. In my inexperience I failed to time the removal of queen and her daughters in time so they left me. I did a 5 way split on the 31st of may with what looked like nearly capped cells, could of had capped that I had not seen. So tonight I saw this bee just out side of one of the splits sitting there.




I videoed her walking into the hive she was well received and no aggression towards her was shown.

Would this be a virgin or newly mated queen?
A young queen from a different location?
Not a queen?

her wings look a bit tattered.
She is distinctively colored different then the rest of the bees from this colony.
There was bees of this color trying to rob this hive location earlier this year when I had added a frame of honey in the spring.
 
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#19 ·
Maybe it identifies as a drone, did you bother to consider it's feelings......lol. I can clearly see its not a drone today but from my phone it sure looked like one last nite. I suspect that may be why some of the other experienced folks thought the same. Stand back 20 ft from your cpu monitor and look lol
 
#24 ·
I don't understand how this bee would have been so well received into this colony?
The video that I posted shows there is no aggression at all.
She is much smaller then the robbers that I had seen earlier this year, not that she couldn't be from a completely different colony.
These girls sisters had defended this hive with great tenacity and the reception of this bee was much different.
 
#32 ·
Three workers. All virgins, of course, but usually not designated as such. No queens. No drones. The black one has tattered wings and no body hair. That would indicate a robber. Probably a robber who lives in this hive since no one is questioning it... Virus infected bees are usually greasy looking, not shiny.

Drones have blunt back ends. Not pointed.
 
#33 ·
Thanks everyone for clearing this up for me. In my mind it was a different strain of bee other then what was in this hive. I didn't realize that the hairs on the bee are yellow and that battle hardened bees loose them. Just did not sink in the first few times I read it. Most of the bee that I have witnessed robbing have been mainly yellow, but will know now to watch out for the seasoned hairless vets.
 
#34 ·
> In my mind it was a different strain of bee other then what was in this hive.

The great Huber made the same mistake... so don't feel bad.

"In 1809, we remarked something peculiar in the treatment of certain bees by their companions at the entrance of their hive. On the 20th of June, a cluster of workers attracted our attention; the bees composing it were so irritated that we durst not separate them; night approaching prevented us from ascertaining the cause of this assemblage; but on the subsequent days, we frequently observed bees occupied in defending the entrance of the same hive against some individuals whose external appearance was absolutely similar to that of ordinary workers, a few of them were seized: their difference consisted only in color, they were less downy on the thorax and abdomen, which gave them a blacker aspect; but as to the limbs, antennae, jaws, body and size, the whole external form presented perfect resemblance to common bees.

"Each day we saw some of these black bees at the entrance of the hive; it was evident that the workers expelled them; they had combats in which the ordinary worker always had the better; she soon killed her adversary or reduced it to such a state of weakness that it could not resist: she them would carry it off between her teeth to a great distance from the hive. We caught a number of the black bees and introduced them into a vase; but they speedily darted upon each other and were reciprocally killed; others were confined in a glass sand-box with workers from the same hive; but no sooner had the latter observed them than they were attacked and destroyed.

"Each day we noticed a greater number of these proscribed bees; once driven from their native hive they never returned; so that when the sting spared them they perished of hunger.

"This singular scene continued during the whole remaining part of the good season; sometimes the black bees did not appear to be so cruelly treated by the workers; and they seemed modified a little from the former; their hate had lessened and they did not repeat their mutual encounters; but the rigor of the common bees soon resumed against them, and they were again expelled.

"We were not able to ascertain whether all the brood of this hive was attacked by this malady, or by the peculiar condition which rendered them odious to their companions, and we saw their number augment successively for several weeks, we had cause to fear that the entire offspring of the queen was affected. But at the end of September, black bees were no longer noticed; the colony had apparently suffered from the exile of so many individuals; it was weaker than previously; yet we were encour-aged as to the condition of the colony when we satisfied our-selves that the queen had not lost the faculty of laying eggs which produced workers perfect in every particular.

"From the month of April of the following year, we watched this colony and did not see a single black bee appear; the increase of workers was so great as to make us hope that it would swarm; but it did not happen that year (1810); we were then fully convinced that this anomaly, whatever it be, had affected only a part of the eggs of this queen.

"Several other questions presented themselves here; was the queen entirely cured of this disposition to produce monstrous individuals? Was this vice hereditary? What would be the consequences upon the queens produced from her?..."--Huber's New Observations On Bees, Vol II Chapter X

My guess is they were robbers...
 
#35 ·
Interesting read. Situation sounds very familiar to me. In the spring I was easily able to see the difference do to the size difference of the attackers knowing that they where not from this colony. However as Slow Drone pointed out I had not thought of my bees robbing and returning to the hive looking like this.
 
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