[Yvesrow1]

Love the colors of this queen :thumbsup:

 

[dynemd]

Beautiful!

 

[mike martel]

wow she looks huge !

 

[Beeonefarms]

Very nice picture +1

 

[mathesonequip]

I really could use a half dozen like her. wow!

 

[jwcarlson]

Purdy! I have a few swarm queens that look similar in the "pattern" except they are not as dark. Similar markings down the midsections and rings.

 

[DCH]

Wow! Looks just like the queens (mother & daughter) that were raised in two of our hives. Beautiful rich brown/black coloring. Never saw any of our queens look like this before last year. Any idea if it's a particular breed, as ours are pretty much what the colony raised?

Cheers,
Doug

 

[BernhardHeuvel]

Queens that chilled during their growth phase turn darker than the breed usually is. So if you usually have queens in light colour, and you get a dark queen from a light coloured mother, you may have a queen that was grown up too cold. It is a possibility. So although they look nice, they may fail to buildup a strong colony and keep it going strong for a longer time. So watch closely.

 

[snl]

Queens that chilled during their growth phase turn darker than the breed usually is. So if you usually have queens in light colour, and you get a dark queen from a light coloured mother, you may have a queen that was grown up too cold.

Really? Something new to me.........

 

[BernhardHeuvel]

I learn new things everyday, too, 'specially 'bout bees.

 

[beepro]

That one look like the one Laurie has.

BH, does the cold chill affect the Cordovan queens too? I don't want her color to turn
darker than what it is as I have some Cordovan qcs right now in the colder part of the hive.

 

[Yvesrow1]

Queens that chilled during their growth phase turn darker than the breed usually is. So if you usually have queens in light colour, and you get a dark queen from a light coloured mother, you may have a queen that was grown up too cold. It is a possibility. So although they look nice, they may fail to buildup a strong colony and keep it going strong for a longer time. So watch closely.

update: I have mutt bees, I bought extremely dark bees from one supplier claiming it was Russian Stock and unknown breed bees from another supplier which looked like typical Italians. Why it's so dark I'll never know but I do know it's pumping out eggs like crazy in a textbook pattern, the hive is extremely gentle and average productive, it's definitely a keeper!

 

[msscha]

Very pretty queen!

 

[Riskybizz]

Bernhard your statement begs for documentation

 

[Redneck]

This queen looks like a Carniolan Queen.

 

[jonathan]

Queens that chilled during their growth phase turn darker than the breed usually is.

Is there a reference for that?

The queen in the picture looks pretty much like a Carnica queen.

 

[biggraham610]

I had a VSH open mated daughters, daughter come back like that, not quite as dark but nearly, she is one of my best layers now, and one of my tidiest colonies. G

 

[Michael Bush]

I have a lot of queens that look a lot like that and they typically are my best queens. I don't mind the darker ones as they tend to produce more of these kind...

 

[BernhardHeuvel]

Influence of Temperature on Rate of Development and Color Patterns of Queen Honey Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae)
SPIVAK, MARLA; ZELTZER, ABBIE; DEGRANDI-HOFFMAN, GLORIA; MARTIN, JOSEPH H.
Environmental Entomology, Volume 21, Number 2, April 1992, pp. 364-370(7)
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/esa/envent/1992/00000021/00000002/art00021

"Queens are significantly darker when held at constant temperatures of 30.5°C during the last instar and pupal stages compared to 35.5°C."
"This study and that of Spivak et al (1992) demonstrated that the expression of genes for color is modulated by constant temperatures."
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/file/index/docid/891063/filename/hal-00891063.pdf

 

[Riskybizz]

Thanks Bernhard