I have a swarm I caught 6/29. It has drawn a lot of comb and has a lot of capped brood. I was looking for the queen yesterday thinking a marked queen may have swarmed from my sons hive. I couldn't find any thing that looked like a queen but what I did see looked like a worker sized bee with yellow on the thorax where my queens are marked. Could this have been pollen or a marked queen from another year?None of the other bees had this but she seemed small compared to my italian queens. Thanks everyone
Yay! You caught a swarm on my b-day!!!
Now, back to being relevent. Chances are that that is pollen. I think this year's color is blue. If you are seeing eggs then the queen would have to be of normal size.
Apis,
My birthday also. This years color is white I believe. The only place there was yellow was on the back where my other Queens are marked. I will check through the frames again this weekend. Happy Birthday! belated
Who'd you order your queens from? I got a queen marked white last year.
Years ending in 1 or 6 are white, 2 or 7 are yellow, 3 or 8 are red, 4 or 9 are green, and 5 or 0 are blue.
I had one marked yellow this year. Must have run out of ink.
Either that or the queen supplier was confused on the proper color for the hear.
The yellow on the thorax is not uncommon on a worker bee who is collecting nector and get covered with pollen in the process. That's part of what the birds and the bees are all about.
I had one marked yellow this spring. But she was that old. :)
I have captured small swarms that have had very small queens-wait about ten days and you willl be surprized-they almost double in size. I can only guess that perhaps they are afterswarms maybe leaving with an unmated queen?I have noticed this twice so far,in the past three years.