What do virgin queens look like

BeeMaster2 · March 19, 2012, 12:22:43 AM

I have an OB hive that I removed the queen to use for split on my main hive. That was on February 29. We had 4 queen cells but the first 3 were removed by the bees. The last one was small, almost all horizontal with a large cap. The cell was opened on the 16 day which means it was a very fresh egg, laid on the day the Q was removed. My father in law says they look like earners until they are ready to fly. How do you distinguish her in an OB hive? It is late at night so I know she is not out flying.
Jim

Kathyp · March 19, 2012, 12:43:13 AM

they can be hard to spot. most of the time they are not much bigger than the workers. a little longer in body and a little more pointy in the back end. found this and it's a pretty good representation of both the look and the behavior.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnpluta/3900081749/#secret1b33294dc6

it can take awhile for them to get laying. you just have to be patient.

BeeMaster2 · March 19, 2012, 12:28:52 PM

Thanks. I see that she does have a bald thorax but lots of the other bees in this hive have that. I also noticed that she gets no respect. That doersn't help. The last of the brood will probably hatch today. If I do not have a queen in there, how long before the workers start laying. I have the same problem with a hive that just swarmed, there is no brood, saw a couple just coming out of the cells, and I could not find the queen.
Jim

G3farms · March 19, 2012, 07:59:02 PM

http://www.thebeeyard.org/queencalendar.pl?month=5&day=1&year=2011

here is a link to a queen rearing calender, you can change the dates at the top to suite your dates.

AllenF · March 19, 2012, 08:24:03 PM

Good link there G3.

Robo · March 19, 2012, 08:34:55 PM

Here is another pic.

BeeMaster2 · March 20, 2012, 12:03:50 PM

Quote from: Robo on March 19, 2012, 08:34:55 PM
Here is another pic.

This looks like several of the bees that I have seen in the OB hive. It would be hard to find.
Thanks.
Jim