Can you tell from the queen's appearance what kind of bees I will have?

[tillie]

I'm very curious because this year I actually saw both queens when installing the nucs into my two new hives.  They are very different in appearance from each other.  Here is Queen #1 - she has a yellow dot although it looks white in this picture.  She is very orange and is much longer and wider than the bees in the hive:



Here is Queen #2.  Her marking is a white dot.  She is about the same size as the other bees in her hive:



Are they different varieties?  The bees in Queen #2's hive are quite aggressive - one has tried to sting me each time I've gone onto the deck. 

Linda T, curious in Atlanta    :-\

[Understudy]

Honeybees.  :-D

Come on you had to expect that one.

They look like Italians. Maybe some type of Italian hybrid.


Very nice looking bees.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

[pdmattox]

I would guess Italians.  Nice pattern and good looking queen.

[tillie]

OK. Ok, Honeybees - I fell right into that one.  I remember when I asked a similar question last year, Michael Bush noted that I wouldn't know what kind of bees I had until after all the ones on the various frames that had been placed into the nuc had been replaced by new bees laid by the queen - that the variety of queen would determine what kind of bees I would have in the end - makes sense, right?

So since I actually have a picture of the two queens and they are very different one from the other, I thought perhaps that this year, the kind of bees I will have could be predicted by the appearance of the queen - sounds like the queen looks like she is Italian, but the two queens are very different in size, shape and coloration....does that matter?

Linda T

[tig]

it will also depend on the race of the drones that mated with your queens.

[TwT]

its hard to say tillie, they were probably open mated when you got them but they can still favor a side of the family, look a glens apiary pics of there queens and you can see the difference..

http://members.aol.com/queenb95/

[tillie]

Of course the drones have to be considered!  You'd think I didn't know about the birds and the bees..... ;)

I do love about beekeeping that as a beekeeper I am always learning about so many different aspects of life and ultimately, of course, the bees are in charge and all I am trying to do is be a good steward. 

I got particularly curious about these bees because one hive is so aggressive and the other so docile and the queens look so different, but at this point the bees (and their temperament) are determined by what hives the frames came from that made up my nucs.

Linda T

[soilserf40]

Tillie

What did P. N. have to say about your new queens?


Regards,
chas.

[tillie]

When I asked about the fact that one was a 2006 queen, he said that getting a nuc this early in the year means that you get a fall queen from 2006 - I didn't ask about species....although from the pictures that TwT posted, I would guess that one of my queens is Russian - the aggressive hive one - and the big Mamma is Italian of some variety.

Did you go to the Metro meeting on Wednesday?  (I don't know your real name)  If so, I wish you had said something to me - I'd like to know you....and Understudy came to the meeting as well - since he happened to be in Atlanta.  As well as GTBee - so a number of us are members of Metro Atlanta Beekeepers (http://www.metroatlantabeekeepers.org)


Linda T

[LET-CA]

If she's wearing stylish clothing and driving a high-performance sports-car she's probably Italian.  Russian queens are dowdy dressers and drive very plain autos that are prone to breaking down. . . . :-D (forgive me it's Friday)

[Fannbee]

Not if the Russian bees are tennis players.