Bumble bee in hive

[tidymeup]

Has anyone else ever had a bumble bee on the comb with the rest if the bees? When I ousted the nee it promptly flew straight back into the entrance at the front.

 

[victor meldrew]

Odd lot your bees !
I had a bumble bee land on top of the frames during an inspection; instantly she was pulled between the frames under a welter of workers and in what seemed like seconds was deposited in pieces out through the entrance

John Wilkinson

 

[Poly Hive]

Yes seen it a few times so can't be that uncommon.

PH

 

[tidymeup]

I have two beekeepers helping me that have a lot of experience but had never seen it before.

I have seen bumble trying to get into my other colonies but they just get attacked apart from this one.

They treat this one bee as their own.

 

[Grub]

I have had this in the past a realy docile hive New Zealand strain i never got stung all summer, everyday the bumble bee would come and go as it pleased, then within weeks wasps started the same trick I sat at the hive two hours killing them as they went in,
in the end I swopped the hive with another, Welsh strain and mean !!! that sorted that problem out very quickly
Grub

 

[kazmcc]

Maybe they adopted it

How funny!

 

[MrB]

Maybe its just a fat hairy honeybee!

 

[kazmcc]

Maybe its just a fat hairy honeybee!

Lol, and the girls don't want to hurt her feelings

 

[MrB]

i watched a wasp go into my number 1 hive yesterday, and it was spat out in pieces several mins later!

 

[kazmcc]

i watched a wasp go into my number 1 hive yesterday, and it was spat out in pieces several mins later!

I can't wait to see my bees do that. They are so laid back, I worry they won't defend themselves too well. At the height of the inspection, there were only about 10 - 12 bees in the air, and it was 6pm at night! So most of them were home. I will feel much more relaxed when I see that.

 

[tidymeup]

The funny thing is that the wasps have been trying and other bumbles and all get a good hiding bar this one.

 

[kazmcc]

The funny thing is that the wasps have been trying and other bumbles and all get a good hiding bar this one.

Could it have entered, covered in something that the bees licked off? Like a big furry sugarry lolly. Then old bumble would have smelled like the colony? Is that possible?

 

[JamesB]

Could it have entered, covered in something that the bees licked off? Like a big furry sugarry lolly. Then old bumble would have smelled like the colony? Is that possible?

Quite possible, as robber honey bees once getting the colony's scent can get free reign of the hive (dont know how the robber gets back to its own hive unmolested though unless its a loner honey bee) but havent see Bumbles get in myself.

And the only way ive seen honey bees kill wasps is by 'heat'

Honey Bee's can put up with higher temperature's than wasps, so when a scout gets in as (im told) they cant sting it to death as the wasps armour is too resilient, they smother it and efectively raise its temp till it dies,

The last thing the Bee's want is a wasp reporting back so others arrive

 

[victor meldrew]

The robber bee is welcome home because it arrives bearing Gifts

John Wilkinson

 

[kazmcc]

The robber bee is welcome home because it arrives bearing Gifts

John Wilkinson

I'm getting the hang of this whole "bees world" thing

 

[jezd]

Maybe they adopted it

How funny!

Apparently what can happen is they pick up the hives smell and pheromones eventually and the bees accepts the intruder with no resistance (same happens with wasps too).

 

[kazmcc]

Apparently what can happen is they pick up the hives smell and pheromones eventually and the bees accepts the intruder with no resistance (same happens with wasps too).

looks so funny in there, all bumbly and fluffy. Sweet lol

 

[oliver90owner]

Far more prefeable, one small(ish) bumbly, than a dozen wax moths (or even one, for that matter).

Regards, RAB

 

[kazmcc]

Far more prefeable, one small(ish) bumbly, than a dozen wax moths (or even one, for that matter).

Regards, RAB

Wonder if she has a complex about her weight, being alongside all her new skinny friends