Interesting inspection

Started by crowhammer, March 22, 2009, 10:55:51 PM

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crowhammer

March 22, 2009, 10:55:51 PM
So today I opened the hives I split the other day. While I was gone the queen must have swarmed. One hive was queenless and I don't think they were on their way to raising one. But the other, That was the interesting one. I popped the lid and there was a queen, all by herself. Just sitting on top of an empty frame in an empty super, all by herself. I picked up the super and she started a high pitched buzzing. Almost a pipping. PBZZT, PBZZT, PBZZT. Very high pitched. I guess she got tired of my prodding cause she flew up a foot, than dropped back into the hive. I found her again on a frame in the next lower box, making the same noise. PBZZT, PBZZT. Well, I left her alone, almost, I compined the boxes back together with a newspaper and am hoping for the best.
     Now, the questions. What Was That All About!?!? Was it a virgin queen? Will she go out into the wide world and breed. Will she come back. What was she doing by herself on a frame in the top box of my hive?
     It's been an interesting and educational week at my house, I tell you what!

irerob

#1
March 22, 2009, 11:35:50 PM
  The noise sounds like she was piping, which would mean she was a virgin queen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_KihPy-s98
  The other stuff is a mystery to me. :idunno:
You don't need a parachute to sky dive.... you do how ever need one to sky dive twice.
KJ4QMH.

Brian D. Bray

#2
March 23, 2009, 12:34:29 AM
The question left unanswered here, was there worker bees in the hive.  The way you tell it it sounds like the queen was on a solo apartment search.  If other bees in the hive, what was their conduct during the inspection?  Was there drones present?

More info will provide a better answer.
Life is a school.  What have you learned?   :brian:      The greatest danger to our society is apathy, vote in every election!

JP

#3
March 23, 2009, 01:31:02 AM
Sounds to me the virgin was calling other virgins so she could locate, then kill them. I would check the bottom box to see what's going on.

The reason she was alone is because she is a virgin and the bees don't recognize her as a queen.


...JP
My Youtube page is titled JPthebeeman with hundreds of educational & entertaining videos.

My website JPthebeeman.com http://jpthebeeman.com

rast

#4
March 23, 2009, 08:23:04 PM
 Just curious, were there any swarm cells in the box when you split it?
Fools argue; wise men discuss.
    --Paramahansa Yogananda

crowhammer

#5
March 23, 2009, 09:20:12 PM
     There are worker bees and drone. The workers were going about their business as if nothing special was going on a few frames away. As i got to the bottom box, the bees seemed to get more agitated. But not more defensive.
     I didn't take a very good look at all for swarm cells when I did the split. I was short on time and being sloppy. Yesterday, I was much more thorough and did see a few queen cells. Maybe 3 that were opened (queen cups?), and one that was capped over.
     The video is exactly the sound she was making. It was so cool!!! I was I had a camara to film it!
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