Queen Returning from a flight

[nantmoel]

I had just finished checking some mating Apideas when I looked to a queen castle where I 3 virgins waiting to mate and saw a virgin leaving the hive, I sat patiently for 10 mins with my phone ready to take a picture of her return. I managed to capture a picture when she returned, looking at her it was just a look around and not a mating flight.

 

[Erichalfbee]

*******

 

[Fritillary]

Talk about perfect timing. A class act photo!

 

[B+.]

Talk about perfect timing.

I've seen this many times but never caught the queen just as she re-enters the hive.

 

[nantmoel]

I've seen this many times but never caught the queen just as she re-enters the hive.

Waited 10 mins for her to return, I did manage to capture a few of her before she went back in.

 

[Millet]

Cracking timing and picture to boot, how come you marked her before a mating flight though, i thought that to be a no no.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Cracking timing and picture to boot, how come you marked her before a mating flight though, i thought that to be a no no.

A lot of breeders do....they can't keep track of them otherwise. It doesn't seem to make much difference

 

[Millet]

A lot of breeders do....they can't keep track of them otherwise. It doesn't seem to make much difference

 

[maddydog]

A lot of breeders do....they can't keep track of them otherwise. It doesn't seem to make much difference

You'd think it would act as a big target for any passing predator? I'm guessing if the breeders noticed a large drop in returning queens they'd think again.

 

[Erichalfbee]

You'd think it would act as a big target for any passing predator? I'm guessing if the breeders noticed a large drop in returning queens they'd think again.

Do you think so?
Do you think a dot makes the bee more visible to an insect hunting bird?

 

[B+.]

You'd think it would act as a big target for any passing predator? I'm guessing if the breeders noticed a large drop in returning queens they'd think again.

Look at it this way:
1. Queens which emerge in incubators move quite slowly for the first day or so. This makes it very easy to mark them.
2. Virgin queens can (and do) move between nucs unless prevented from doing so. I have proven this many times. If they weren't marked straight after emergence, you wouldn't know which queen should be in which nuc.
3. Breeders need complete certainty over the ancestry of the queen. If they aren't marked from emergence, you don't know if the queen you're expending all that effort testing, is actually the queen you think it is.
4. The only way to control the mating process is to use instrumental insemination (II) or isolated island mating stations. Instrumentally inseminated queens are prevented from flying to mate so predation doesn't factor into it. It is a condition of placing a queen in an island mating station that she is identifiable (numbered disk and breeding card showing ancestry). So, they must be marked.

I make no distinction between open mated and control mated queens. They are treated exactly the same up to the point that they go into a nuc.

 

[maddydog]

Look at it this way:
1. Queens which emerge in incubators move quite slowly for the first day or so. This makes it very easy to mark them.
2. Virgin queens can (and do) move between nucs unless prevented from doing so. I have proven this many times. If they weren't marked straight after emergence, you wouldn't know which queen should be in which nuc.
3. Breeders need complete certainty over the ancestry of the queen. If they aren't marked from emergence, you don't know if the queen you're expending all that effort testing, is actually the queen you think it is.
4. The only way to control the mating process is to use instrumental insemination (II) or isolated island mating stations. Instrumentally inseminated queens are prevented from flying to mate so predation doesn't factor into it. It is a condition of placing a queen in an island mating station that she is identifiable (numbered disk and breeding card showing ancestry). So, they must be marked.

I make no distinction between open mated and control mated queens. They are treated exactly the same up to the point that they go into a nuc.

All very true but the OP is obviously open mating his marked virgins. I was simply musing as to whether having a disk stuck to it would make a queen more likely to be predated! Categorically not attacking anyone who marks their virgins

 

[maddydog]

Do you think so?
Do you think a dot makes the bee more visible to an insect hunting bird?

I believe many birds are attracted to bright coloured shiny objects! I can be accused of slipping into pedantry but I wouldn't be the only one on here

 

[Show me the honey]

Just throwing it out there for but... don't things like fish and butterflies use dots (eyes) on their backs to confuse predators

Great picture all the same and happy for you that she got back mine didn't maybe I'll mark my next time

 

[B+.]

I was simply musing as to whether having a disk stuck to it would make a queen more likely to be predated!

This may vary from one area to another but I suspect it would depend more on the number of predators than the presence, or absence, of the disk. The mating flight is a big risk for the queen (and her colony) and clearly, not all queens survive - but this is nature. Some may get lost, some may get eaten. That's the way things go in open mating. It sounds to me from what some of you are saying that variations in the number/type of birds in an area has quite an effect on the number of successful mating flights.

 

[Swarm]

Don't think that yellow dot stands out any more than her orange backside.

 

[Show me the honey]

Don't think that yellow dot stands out any more than her orange backside.

Absolutely Brilliant

 

[nantmoel]

Cracking timing and picture to boot, how come you marked her before a mating flight though, i thought that to be a no no.

I always mark them as soon as the emerge, normally number marked. At least you can keep track of your breeding lines and the hives you introduce them to. I have never had a problem with marking them before they are mated.

 

[maddydog]

Don't think that yellow dot stands out any more than her orange backside.

Maybe one for the doctoral thesis then

 

[maddydog]

. I have never had a problem with marking them before they are mated.

Finally. In amongst the sniping a breeder who marks his virgin queens and hasn't noticed an increase in predation. Like pulling teeth