small queen?

[buzzbee]

I have a swarm I caught 6/29. It has drawn a lot of comb  and has a lot of capped brood. I was looking for the queen yesterday thinking a marked queen may have swarmed from my sons hive. I couldn't find any thing that looked like a queen but what I did see looked like a worker sized bee with yellow on the thorax where my queens are marked. Could this have been pollen or a marked queen from another year?None of the other bees had this but she seemed small compared to my italian queens. Thanks everyone

[Apis629]

Yay!  You caught a swarm on my b-day!!!

Now, back to being relevent.  Chances are that that is pollen.  I think this year's color is blue.  If you are seeing eggs then the queen would have to be of normal size.

[buzzbee]

Apis,
My birthday also. This years color is white I believe. The only place there was yellow was on the back where my other Queens are marked. I will check through the frames again this weekend. Happy Birthday! belated

[Apis629]

Who'd you order your queens from?  I got a queen marked white last year.

[bassman1977]

Years ending in 1 or 6 are white, 2 or 7 are yellow, 3 or 8 are red, 4 or 9 are green, and 5 or 0 are blue.

I had one marked yellow this year.  Must have run out of ink.

[Brian D. Bray]

Either that or the queen supplier was confused on the proper color for the hear.  

The yellow on the thorax is not uncommon on a worker bee who is collecting nector and get covered with pollen in the process.  That's part of what the birds and the bees are all about.

[Michael Bush]

I had one marked yellow this spring.  But she was that old.  :)

[latebee]

I have captured small swarms that have had very small queens-wait about ten days and you willl be surprized-they almost double in size. I can only guess that perhaps they are afterswarms maybe leaving with an unmated queen?I have noticed this twice so far,in the past three years.