Queen with Ragged Wing

[tillie]

I opened my hives for the first time today and found the queen in the strongest one.  I didn't notice this when I saw her in person but in the photos I can see that one of her wings is ragged at the end.  I uploaded the photo to photobucket and it is more out of focus than on my computer so if you want to see it, here's the link to her picture on my blogpost. 

Why would that happen to her?  There are no supersedure or swarm cells in this hive.  She has just started to lay brood for spring.  The hive appears strong and still has honey left from winter provisions.

So - do they hate her?  Did she get wing damage on her mating flight?  What would cause this?

Linda T, always curious in Atlanta

[Bee Happy]

My first thought was that maybe she had to hash it out with another queen who had also hatched.

[Michael Bush]

Sometimes she's just old.  Sometimes she got balled sometime when something disturbed the hive or you swapped places with another hive...

[longrangedog]

I discovered a queen without wings a few days ago. I couldn't see any part of a wing even at the point of attachment. Looking further in the hive I noticed a nice plump capped surercedure cell. The hive looked great otherwise with ample stores and a solid brood pattern on both sides of several frames. Her inability to fly would prevent her leaving with a swarm which would be my guess as to why they're replacing her.

[JP]

Linda, she may still be ok to fly, at least a short distance. I wouldn't worry about it, lots of beekeepers clip one of their queen's wings to keep them from flying off. I know you like her but at some point they are going to replace her or want her to leave in a primary reproductive swarm.

Sometimes letting go is hard to do Linda.  :'(


...JP  :-D