Bees without stripes

[BrentX]

As the weeks go by I am seeing an increasing number of bees that do not have yellow stripes on the abdomen.  What is going on here?

20 percent of the population might be running without stripes.  A few have been around from the beginning, but the number seems to be getting higher.  Or maybe I am doing a better job of noticing.

[AllenF]

You are not suppose to wear yellow stripes after Labor Day, or is that white?   Really, if your queen was mated with a lot of different drones, then she should throw a lot of different offspring.  There should be some slight differences in the bees if her mating was well rounded. 

[JP]

Mutts in the mix is pretty standard if your queens are bleep.  :-D


...JP

[iddee]

Also, older bees will lose their strips and turn more of a solid black. With the flow over, they are not dieing as young, therefore more black bees.

[L Daxon]

 Really, if your queen was mated with a lot of different drones, then she should throw a lot of different offspring.  There should be some slight differences in the bees if her mating was well rounded. 

This is good to know.  I was wondering why my bees all looked so different, not just in size but in coloration.  (I know the size changes w/age.)  I see a lot of variation in the striping.  I am guessing the variety would be a sign of a healthy hive or at least as you said a well mated queen.

[greenbtree]

Also, and forgive me if I am stating the obvious to you, I have noticed that drones often have dark abdomens with little or no striping.  Some hives will throw off a surge of drones towards fall.

JC

[AllenF]

Last year, I had one hive that was throwing about 20% of the hive as blond bees.   The black parts were blond in color.  Very nice looking.   This year, no blond bees at all.   Go figure.

[AliciaH]

I have a couple of hives where the drones are all black and the workers are striped.  I have others where some of the workers are so blond they are almost transluscent!  I love the variety in the hives; just another fun reason to watch them!  And yes, my drones are starting to get kicked out here, too.

[bigbearomaha]

 I got plenty of those mixers in one of my hives.  some with mostly dark abdomens others that are the 'blondies' as well.

This gal really got around.  lol

big Bear

[tecumseh]

snip..
The black parts were blond in color.

tecumseh:
cordovans?

[AllenF]

No, blond like yellow hair.  May have some recessive cordovan trait because of years and years of breeding, but they stood out from the color.   I should have took a pic or saved one.   I saved one of my black bees this year from one of my hives.  All back honey bee in a very small % of one hive that I have.  Another recessive trait I guess.

[BrentX]

The stripe less bees I have might be.a little smaller than the rest.  I am a little curious that their numbers are going up.  I thought maybe a new queen wa in the house, but haven't seen any queen cells.  Haven't seen the old queen in a while, but that is not a concern.