Queen breed determination

Started by beecanbee, September 02, 2009, 04:28:34 AM

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beecanbee

September 02, 2009, 04:28:34 AM
My melliferas took up residence of their own accord – hence I do not know their breeding.  Is there a visual method of determination (Russian, Italian, etc.), or must one start with a known (a purchased queen) to determine this?  (I have already tried listening in on them ...  :) ) Might someone have a link to a good photo comparison?

Not that it probably matters all that much, as I love them all the same... But just curious.
"I come from a state that raises corn and cotton and cockleburs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I am from Missouri. You have got to show me."  Duncan Vandiver

A boy can do half the work of a man, but two boys do less, and three boys get nothing done at all. :)

(False) Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.  - Samuel Johnson

bee-nuts

#1
September 03, 2009, 04:21:29 AM
I think most races are dark color.  Italians are yellow.  I think Africans are yellow too.
The moment a person forms a theory, his imagination sees in every object only the traits which favor that theory

Thomas Jefferson

beecanbee

#2
September 03, 2009, 04:26:16 AM
Thanks, Mine are definitely yellow - almost sand-yellow.
"I come from a state that raises corn and cotton and cockleburs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I am from Missouri. You have got to show me."  Duncan Vandiver

A boy can do half the work of a man, but two boys do less, and three boys get nothing done at all. :)

(False) Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.  - Samuel Johnson

Sean Kelly

#3
September 03, 2009, 12:22:47 PM
Quote from: bee-nuts on September 03, 2009, 04:21:29 AM
I think most races are dark color.  Italians are yellow.  I think Africans are yellow too.

I have two hives that are Italian and both queens are jet black.  Color doesn't mean much.  From what I've been told before, unless you knew where they came from it's pretty much impossible to know what race they are.

Sean Kelly
"My son,  eat  thou honey,  because it is good;  and the honeycomb,  which is sweet  to thy taste"          - Proverbs 24:13

bee-nuts

#4
September 03, 2009, 02:42:20 PM
"I have two hives that are Italian and both queens are jet black.  Color doesn't mean much.  From what I've been told before, unless you knew where they came from it's pretty much impossible to know what race they are."

How did you end up with these queens?  Boughten, superseded, ten years later?  I have never heard of black Italians.  I have to remain a skeptic.
The moment a person forms a theory, his imagination sees in every object only the traits which favor that theory

Thomas Jefferson

Sean Kelly

#5
September 03, 2009, 06:23:42 PM
They were started from packages several years ago and were very dark then but have been superseded a couple times, each time getting darker.  I haven't requeened and just let the colonies relpace their queens naturally.

Sean Kelly
"My son,  eat  thou honey,  because it is good;  and the honeycomb,  which is sweet  to thy taste"          - Proverbs 24:13
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