[beekeeper1756]

I was going through my hives yesterday. Bees in this hive have abdomens that are yellow and black striped. Found several worker bees with nearly pure black abdomens.

Do I have different genetic strains or does this type of color variation occur naturally? I may go back and try to take a pic and post it up if anyone would like to try and see it.

 

[Tara]

I have a black Russian queen. Some of her daughters are greyish with black stripes, some are orangy-yellow with 5 stripes, some are yellow with black butts and no stripes. I chalk it up to the queen being well mated to several different drones.

 

[BEES4U]

Post # 19 is right.
The workers provide you with her mating history.
Ernie

 

[blueskybeesupply]

Good sign of genetic diversity in mating. This is desirable. The daughters will have different traits, that may help them survive as a whole.

Of interest, research has shown, super-sisters (daughters of the same drone) will often work together in certain endeavors, such as favoring their super-sister brood even as far as selecting these larvae for queens.