Bee Inspector coming.

[beeno]

She looks a little darker now than when we first saw her. Is it normal for Queens to change colour as they mature?

I have asked this question before and not got an answer. However, my own conclusion is now that there has been more than one queen around. It happened to me again the other day. Saw a stripy queen come back after orientation/mating flight. Was very disappointed as she looked nothing like her Ligurian mother. Then on first inspection she did look all Ligurian, but they did build another queen cell and both emerged!