Different colour bees in the same hive.

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Torq

Field Bee
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Location
Athlone. Co. Westmeath. Ireland
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
4 Hives, 4 Nucs.
As above, some are black, others have a brown segment at the top of the abdomen. Guess it must be down to them having different fathers!

Just had another thought.... It must also be possible to have placid and angry bees in the same hive.
 
It could be a new queen, with half the hive with old queen bees and the other half with the new queen bees, wait a few week and you should see all the bees the same colour
 
All the time I have had my bees there has been a mix of very dark bees and some really pale and ginger. But the temperament has been pretty consistent with this queen.
 
As above, some are black, others have a brown segment at the top of the abdomen. Guess it must be down to them having different fathers!

Just had another thought.... It must also be possible to have placid and angry bees in the same hive.


Bees don't have fathers, only grandfathers.
 
Bees don't have fathers, only grandfathers.

Drones don't have fathers, only grandfathers, but workers have fathers - unless all my years studying biology were wasted.

The drone mates with the queen and prodcues worker bees using the drones sperm. In my book, that makes him the dad and HM the mum.

Simon
 
Drones don't have fathers, only grandfathers, but workers have fathers - unless all my years studying biology were wasted.

The drone mates with the queen and prodcues worker bees using the drones sperm. In my book, that makes him the dad and HM the mum.

Simon



I think you will find you are wrong.
 
:iagree: with simon - it's drones that are somewhat detached in the male lineage. workers are diploid so MUST by definition have fathers. why else would we have all the debate and worry about DLQs, poor mating etc etc if it wasn't the case!!!!

back to the OP - a large part of the character of a colony is down to the queen herself - requeening may calm a nasty colony immediately (your problem being getting in to remove old queen in first place).
 
Maybe I am wrong, but not in the way Silly Bee thinks!

In fact, on further reading, it appears that some drones also can have fathers.

A gene called the CSD gene controls sex in a bee and a fertilized cell can have two CSD genes which makes them male, although they tend to be killed at larvae stage!

Simon
 
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:iagree: with simon - it's drones that are somewhat detached in the male lineage. workers are diploid so MUST by definition have fathers. why else would we have all the debate and worry about DLQs, poor mating etc etc if it wasn't the case!!!!

Thank god I read that before my brain exploded trying to figure out why workers wouldn't have daddys.:willy_nilly:
 
In a little corner of my valley where one branch of my family come from my dad said that of all the different families there was only one or two grandmothers (but a confusing amount of fathers!)
So what does that make me? - and before you reply, according to some junior deckies one answer is already on my job description :D
 
If the queen is locally mated she would be carrying sperm from a variety of Drones, so you would expect a slight difference in some bees I should have thought.
Back on topic by the way:D
 
Drones don't have fathers, only grandfathers, but workers have fathers - unless all my years studying biology were wasted.

The drone mates with the queen and prodcues worker bees using the drones sperm. In my book, that makes him the dad and HM the mum.

Simon

I agree.
 
In a little corner of my valley where one branch of my family come from my dad said that of all the different families there was only one or two grandmothers (but a confusing amount of fathers!)
So what does that make me? - and before you reply, according to some junior deckies one answer is already on my job description :D


(Tongue firmly in cheek on this comment)

Welsh?

Baggy (who lives near a village where virtually everyone is related to each other)
 

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