Introduced Mated AMM Queen Piping?

[dlawr42103]

Yesterday I introduced a bought in AMM mated queen to a recently put together Nuc.

After a night getting to know each other today I popped the clip of the cage to allow the bees in to chew at the candy and release her. (as a side note all her attendant bees had been killed, but she was fine, Ive not noticed the attendants being attached with any of my previous introductions)

Anyways....

I was very surprised to witness her excitedly piping! I thought only newly hatched / virgin queens did this?

Is this normal and any idea of the purpose? I have only ever witnessed this before with virgins.

The nuc was set up from a hive that has been queenless for quite a long time. There is definitely no other queen or QC's in there.. I searched meticulously before introducing the new queen... I guess there is always a small opportunity of the very unlikely.. but it would be exceptional unlikely.

 

[Hawklord]

Did you test for queenlessness with a frame of eggs？

 

[dlawr42103]

Before I moved them into the Nuc yes.

 

[REDWOOD]

Looks like you have two queens now, which one will survive I wonder ?

 

[Apple]

I have experienced a number of occasions when a colony will support 2 queens, I have one colony at present with one queen marked red and the other green, the green one marked because I considered that the red queen may have been superceeded and a new queen I found had replaced her.
All the manuals it seem are written for the Ferraris and Trebants of the bee world, and of course the kit car hybrids!
Then I tend to go with Cooper not Hooper!!

I have as yet to hear piping from within the colony, then my WBC's are not going to be good transmitters of noise like the flimsy thin Nationals that some seem to favour.

James

 

[dlawr42103]

So is it thought a queen would only pipe if there is another queen present?

I checked on my introduced caged queen today, she couldn't get out as a dead bee was blocking the exit, I assisted and I have never seen a queen move so fast, she literally sprinted past and down into the frames as if she was on a mission... I then heard her piping again.

I guess it is feasible I have missed a queen somehow, but I have checked very so thoroughly already, but there are definitely no eggs. I shall check on Sunday and see if my new Q still there, I do hope so.

 

[Apple]

So is it thought a queen would only pipe if there is another queen present?


I wonder?
Had 2 of the most elegant Black bees piping in my beesuit top pocket this afternoon, walking through the meadow to introduce them to their new homes.
Once upon a time a corncrake or a skylark may have joined in with the song, but alas big pest co saw them off in the last half of the last century!

Enjoy your bee whilst you can.................



James

 

[jd101k2000]

I had this last year. The queen was newly purchased, in the shed, in her cage, there were no other queens in the shed. She was definitely mated and definitely piping. There was also no source of queen pheromone.

Perhaps she just wants to sing ;-)

Good luck.

 

[dlawr42103]

purpose of piping?

Ah ha... thank you... this is what I really wanted to know... whether anyone has experienced piping queens that are not in the presence of other queens... Im 99% confident there was no other Q or queen cell in that nuc....

... does anyone know the purpose of piping? I thought it was mainly a challenge to fight when 2 or more Q's sensed each others' presence ... and perhaps a way of telling the other bees how great she is so they best not let any more queens hatch!

... Can old queens pipe? Can a 1yr+ queen be encouraged to pipe?

 

[dlawr42103]

Video of interesting hive behaviour

24 hours after releasing my excitable piping queen into the hive I found some interesting activity at the hive, see video attached:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ivg8yucpO2Y&feature=youtu.be

It looks to me a little like a swarm had just tried to leave and was returning.. what do you think?

10 mins later they had all returned inside and all was peaceful again... I don't want to disturb them yet by searching through.

 

[Hivemaker.]

It looks to me a little like a swarm had just tried to leave and was returning.. what do you think?

They get rather excitable at times when a new queen is just emerging from her cell, also when she takes an orientation or mating flight, this apart from the usual young bee flights.

 

[DanBee]

Queens will also pipe to halt rough-handling by the workers around them, e.g. when being harassed in preparation for swarming. Piping makes the workers halt what they are doing in the vicinity of the queen. This is less common that the queen-to-queen challenge/response of piping/quarking.

I hear similar sounds to piping when I accidentally trap a worker or drone under lightweight plastic parts, e.g. Apidea crown boards. To the casual listener (no offence intended) it could be described as a "piping" sound.

 

[urbantribe]

yes, then make a selection of the best queens, less conducive to swarm, to make new queens from these.
Also important is good management that is not conducive to swarming, the early in the season of greater input nectar VERIFY if the nest is unobstructed.
I apologize for bad Inglês.
regards
paulo

 

[urbantribe]

24 hours after releasing my excitable piping queen into the hive I found some interesting activity at the hive, see video attached:


It looks to me a little like a swarm had just tried to leave and was returning.. what do you think?

10 mins later they had all returned inside and all was peaceful again... I don't want to disturb them yet by searching through.

Looks like you changed the position of nuc
regards
paulo