Queen Head-Down

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Joined
May 26, 2021
Messages
229
Reaction score
61
Location
Salisbury
Hive Type
WBC
Number of Hives
5
Grateful for some advice. I did an inspection today and in one colony found the Queen with her head deep in one of the cells. I watched her for about a minute before she eventually backed out.
I've not seen this before. On all other occasions I've seen the queens scuttling about.
Is this normal? Does it mean anything?
 
Grateful for some advice.
Is this normal?

We were catching queens this July. One queens was becoming difficult. We knew she was there in the mating nuc, but where? After five minutes, Jeremy spotted her. She was buried head first with only a bit of her abdomen showing. We all went to see but she had crawled out. He brought me the comb so I could mark the queen...but where was she? Yep, buried in another cell.
 
I do see the numbered post is there, just a score through saying 'you are ignoring this member' then giving the option of seeing the ignored content.
I think you just answered your original question - you have Jenks on ignore ... It used to be when you ignored someone they completely disappeared along with their posts - it was not great as it used to make threads very disjointed. Clearly, the forum has upgraded and you now have the opportunity to view the posts if you wish. If you want a complete view of the threads that include JBM's posts then you will have to take him out of your ignore list.
 
Grateful for some advice. I did an inspection today and in one colony found the Queen with her head deep in one of the cells. I watched her for about a minute before she eventually backed out.
I've not seen this before. On all other occasions I've seen the queens scuttling about.
Is this normal? Does it mean anything?
The most likely reason for her to stick her head in a cell is to measure its size. A normal size cell gets a fertilised egg (worker). A large cell get an unfertilised egg (drone).
 
Do/can queens feed themselves once they are mated and laying? (one word answer acceptable).
They are capable but don't as they have attendants that will feed her and carry out all her other needs. Not altruistic... she's just an egg laying machine so anything that would detract from that is not in the colony's best interests.
 

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