Black Bees? verses my Italians

[harvey]

Hello,  I was out checking my hive today and they are realy working the goldenrod hard.  Most all bees I saw had nice bands of pollen on them coming back.  I also saw a lot of dark black bees?  Could these be ferrel bees?  And if so should I try and find there hive or tree?  Any easy methods of doing this?  One more.  It appears that goldenrod is a real good pollen source, what about nectar?

[Natalie]

Feral bees won't just enter your hive, they'll bring the pollen back to their own colonies.
You probably just have a bunch of different colored bees in your hive like the rest of us.
The queen mates with alot of different drones which means mixed races in your hives.
I have hives with yellow/black, orange/black and black bees all in the same colonies.
When you say bands of pollen on them coming back, do you mean in their leg baskets or something else? Just never heard bands of pollen outside of someone describing a frame.

[harvey]

Bands of pollen,  it looks like they have rings of pollen on their rear legs,  Kinda cool.   Lots of it too.  Just wondering if they will get much nectar off of the goldenrod.  Right now all I can see them doing is collecting the pollen.

[Natalie]

Not sure of the nectar with the goldenrod, I have heard that question asked before and the usual response is it depends what kind of goldenrod it is.
The pollen is stored in pockets/baskets on their back legs, never seen it look like rings or bands but little pouchfuls of different colored pollen sitting on their outer legs.

[ArmucheeBee]

The bees in several of my hives are getting darker lately.  I go into my hive 1 to 2 times each month and have noticed a difference in color.  Also, they have far less hair, so that could be it too.

[bee-nuts]

"I also saw a lot of dark black bees?  Could these be ferrel bees?"

You saw these  on the goldenrod or coming back to your hive? 

If they are not from your hive, why not see if you can find em.  Mystery bees, sounds like fun to me.

Search beelining.

Efficient Hunting of Feral Colonies
http://www.beesource.com/point-of-view/adrian-wenner/efficient-hunting-of-feral-colonies/

[harvey]

I am not sure if I have any bees that dark in my hive or not.  I was watching them the black ones on the golden rod.   I would like to find them if they are truely ferrel bees.  That would make a pretty resistant hive If I could trap them out or catch a swarm from them in the spring.  If I could find them this fall I would leave them alone till then.

[Natalie]

I thought you meant they were entering your hive.
Although its always great if you can catch a swarm of feral bees it does not mean they are feral because they are black.
I have black bees in my hives as well. I also got some ferals from someone and they are not black so you just never know.
If you can find out where they are you could try to catch a swarm off of them.
Also if there are ferals in the area maybe you will have virgin queens that will mate with them at some point.

[alflyguy]

Being black does not necessarily make them feral nor does being feral cause them to be darker. A couple of months ago I caught a hive from a tree that was going to be cut down by the land owner. They are the prettiest little Italians you've ever seen. The owner told me they had been there at least 10 years ago when he purchased the land. They are now happly living in my bee yard.

[Irwin]

Red yellow black are white they are priceless :-D

[Natalie]

Irwin you are on fire tonight!!! :-D