Queen getting licked

1767 Views 3 Replies 2 Participants Last post by beepro, Jul 15, 2014

ravikmd

Discussion Starter · Jul 14, 2014

I direct released this queen after 7 days. The bees were all over her immediately. I expected them to make way for her to go wherever she wanted, but they were crawling on top of her and knocking her over. She just stood their. On close inspection they were not biting, but licking her with their tounges. As more and more bees crawled over her, I got nervous and went to grab her, but she suddenly took off. This told me that she was likely staying still of her own accord and not because the bees were holding her down. I grabbed her wings and put her on a comb and the bees started interacting with her like they normally do with a queen. I took a picture. She has a green mark. Has anyone seen this type of behavior?

Bee Insect Honeybee Membrane-winged insect Beehive

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beepro

· #2 · Jul 15, 2014

Yes, this type of beehaviro is quite normal for a queen acceptance.
But if they don't like her they will immediately gang up on her into a ball shape. This is call
balling the queen to try to bite and suffocate her. In the end she is a dead queen. All
of my balled queens did not make it. Sorry for the negative view here. On the bright side looks
like you have a new accepted queen for this hive.

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ravikmd

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jul 15, 2014

Did you ever try rescuing those balled queens? I heard you can plunge the ball in water to get them to release.

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beepro

· #4 · Jul 15, 2014

Yes, I tried to rescue her by picking up the bee ball. And then
separate her from the workers with a small tweeser to put her into a
JZBZ plastic cage. It is still useless since they will not feed her and kept on
balling the cage to suffocate her too. The better way is to use a frame cage
to release her the next time.

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