Dead Queen outside hive?

[mel1of4]

Hi everyone
Should be 2 pictures attached showing a bee found outside the hive this morning, together with a worker. Am I right to think it a queen? (Forgive my ignorance).
We don't think its our queen as she was marked.
Any idea what's happened? We haven't done a full inspection since mid-August so wouldn't have seen any queen cells.

Should mention that we started Apiguard treatment on Wed.

 

[MuswellMetro]

possible a dead virgin supsecedure queen second to hatch from a pair of queen cells in your hive, killed by the new first to hatch supercedure queen, then tossed out by the undertaker workers

so you could have mother and daughter queen in your hive

 

[OXFORDBEE]

My vote is pair of workers, one with a rather distended abdomen.

 

[MuswellMetro]

My vote is pair of workers, one with a rather distended abdomen.

eaten all the pies then ,

 

[Midland Beek]

I reckon ... worker.

 

[margob99]

Yea I reckon worker too; her thorax seems too fuzzy and not pronounced enought. But I'm a newbee so not 100% sure ...

 

[tonybloke]

I'll agree with MM.

 

[OXFORDBEE]

OK we need a referee. Where's Hivemaker when you need him?

 

[kazmcc]

I look at the wings. If they reach the full length of the body then it's a worker. Queens ( the ones I've seen and seen pics of ) wings only reach half way down her body.

I must say they seem to be very yellow bees. Ours are a lot darker, and more orange. maybe it's just the camera settings or are they very yellow Mel?

 

[Gardenbees]

I look at the wings. If they reach the full length of the body then it's a worker. Queens ( the ones I've seen and seen pics of ) wings only reach half way down her body.

It just doesn't look quite queen-shaped to me.
I've had one or two nasty shocks this year with some workers looking much longer than the others... almost twice as long in some cases, but on closer inspection none of them were queens. Even the smallish queen in my long hive, who looks very like a worker, still looks more queenlike than this one, although it's a close thing.

 

[Midland Beek]

I must say they seem to be very yellow bees. Ours are a lot darker, and more orange. maybe it's just the camera settings or are they very yellow Mel?

It is interesting how when you get to see more bees you discover how different looking different strains actually are. But 'different' might be an overstatement.

I would guess the bees in the pic fall into the Italian/ligustica category.

 

[mel1of4]

Thanks everyone, it seems the jury's still out on whether this is actually a queen. It may not show up so well on the pic, but her wings definitely don't come all the way down the abdomen. That's what made me think it was a queen in the first place. I can't compare with our marked queen, because we've only seen her once on the day we hived them in June!
They are Carnies by the way, and are pretty much as the pics show them. Interestingly, there are a few with much blacker abdomens as well (different sire?)

 

[Hivemaker.]

OK we need a referee. Where's Hivemaker when you need him?

I would agree with you that its a worker with a distended abdomen.
They don't look anything like carniolans that iv'e ever seen either.

 

[Black Comb]

Distended abdomen. Wonder what she died of?

 

[Hivemaker.]

Drank to much.....nosema,acarine,ect....bee's that drown in feeders have huge distended abdomens...but obviously this one has not drowed in a feeder.

 

[kazmcc]

So Italian bees are more yellow then? I saw some very yellow bees on another thread, almost no black at all!

 

[drstitson]

italian bees

see the picture of my bees on the other thread:

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7225

 

[Mike a]

Friend sent me this picture and wanted to know if this was the queen.

I am 100% sure it is but several friends disagree. Your thoughts please?

Colony hit hard by wasps a few weeks ago.

 

[kazmcc]

I'd say it is, but I am a lowly beginner again, I look at the wings and judge from the size of the body compared to the others in the picture.

 

[victor meldrew]

Try to get a shot of it's legs . Queens don't have the tools for handling pollen , only the workers do .

john Wilkinson