[radu43]

Have you guys seen this before? Should I be worried or is this just a genetic anomaly?

 

[Dominic]

I have a hard time seeing it. Did you only spot one, or are there lots?

 

[radu43]

I only saw one. My wife said she spotted a couple.

 

[beemandan]

Probably visited a flower with red pollen.

 

[Dominic]

Do you raise your own queens (or let your hives requeen themselves), or are all queens imported from breeders?

 

[Delta Bay]

Looks like she stopped off at the local 7- Eleven for a cherry slurpee.

 

[JSL]

It is her abdomen that is red. As Delta said, she probably found a red source of "nectar", soda or something along those lines. The red liquid is in her honey stomach which is visible through the abdominal tergites.

 

[treeWinder]

Looks she found the hummingbird feeder.

 

[burns375]

wow never seen that before. Thanks for posting.

 

[GLOCK]

That's not the thorax it's the abdomen

 

[beepro]

Yep, humming bird feeder use the reddish nectar (sugar syrup) they can mix. Noticed how full this
bee is. If a regular bee is this color then you have the red color bee but I don't think so.
Nothing to worry about other than your honey is from the artificial red syrup out of a bird feeder.

 

[HIVE+]

Notice the red tongue where the other bee is sampling the goods.

 

[Vance G]

I know for a fact that Dr Robert Russell produced those genetics and he will sell queens for $59.95 plus shipping.

 

[bluegrass]

I know for a fact that Dr Robert Russell produced those genetics and he will sell queens for $59.95 plus shipping.

I think he calls this his Red Dawn line.

 

[beemandan]

I know for a fact that Dr Robert Russell produced those genetics and he will sell queens for $59.95 plus shipping.

At the risk of restarting this whole mess....the living Robert Russell is not a PhD. I'm not sure he even went to college. His father Robert senior was a PhD entomologist.
And heaven help us if junior is back in the bee business.

 

[delber]

Looks she found the hummingbird feeder.

Well I'd say beesource is AMAZING!! I was inspecting a hive in my yard on Friday and noticed the same thing. Red abdomen on 1 bee out of about 50 or so. I also noticed some red "nectar" in a few cells which brought me to the thought of a hummingbird feeder also but I wanted to confirm it. I have never seen anything like this before either. At least until this past Friday and the picture looks exactly like what I saw in my hive.

Thanks!!

 

[cconnell]

I agree with the hummingbird feeder or other similar thing. Remember, there was the famous case about 8-10 years ago where bees in the Red Hook area of Brooklyn, NY, were turning red and their nectar was red. Turns out they were eating from waste from the maraschino cherry factory on the corner of Coffey St and Ferris. My brother lived above and behind the factory and I remember him commenting on these weird red bees in the area.

In an odd twist, that maraschino cherry factory had another whole bizarre drug-related event a few years later.

 

[Akademee]

Totally looks like humming bird feed to me. I can't even have my humming bird feeder anymore since the bees just eat it all and fight the birds.

 

[Steve in PA]

This thread is 6-1/2 years old.

 

[JWPalmer]

This thread is 6-1/2 years old.

It may be, but bees getting into the hummingbird feeders, especially in the South where the summer dearth is beginning, continues to be a problem for those that leave their supers on a tad too long. To make matters worse, serious hummers no longer add red food coloring to the feed as it is not good for the birds.