White Eyes (maybe on queen)

[andyww]

Hi,

I recently carried out an inspection, pretty sure the highlighted bee in the picture is my queen, this time though it was not the green blob that attracted my attention but the white eyes?

Not sure how to explain this? Has anybody else seen anything like this?

 

[Hivemaker.]

I recently carried out an inspection, pretty sure the highlighted bee in the picture is my queen,

It's a drone.

 

[Tom Bick]

Yes its a drone and I had a blind drone in one of my hives this year.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

It's a drone.

definitely a drone

 

[masterBK]

White eye is due to a recessive gene. Because drones are haploid and hence hemizygous they will express recessive genes. Its not uncommon.

What is more worrying is that any beekeeper should mistake a drone for a queen.

 

[Cazza]

What is more worrying is that any beekeeper should mistake a drone for a queen.

You have a good point there. More practise needed as they are not at all similar.
Cazza

 

[REDWOOD]

Open a book springs to mind

 

[dn170221]

Pretty good example of a drone too in terms of shape and size!

 

[madasafish]

Nice photos.
Better to ask and learn than continue to be wrong

 

[TOBY-3652]

It's a drone.

as it has not mated must be doing something else.. they say it makes u go blind

 

[pargyle]

Don't be embarrassed Andy ... I know someone who had done the course, allegedly read the books and tried to 'cut out' a 'bee nest' in his fathers garden shed which was actually a wasps nest .... he won't make that mistake again in a hurry ... he had been watching too many American You Tube videos I think !

At least you know what a drone looks like now ... and gave some people a good laugh - shame on you all !

The difference is obvious once you see your queen alongside workers and drones..

 

[kazmcc]

Don't be embarrassed Andy ...The difference is obvious once you see your queen alongside workers and drones..

I agree, don't be embarrassed. Try and see the funny side I think you have probably seen a bee that is bigger than the workers, and thought it was your queen. At least you know now, and once you do see the queen it will be obvious. I'm sure I pointed out a drone as being the queen when I first started, in fact, I'm positive I did! We live and learn

 

[tiny tim]

Nice photos.
Better to ask and learn than continue to be wrong

exactly my thoughts

 

[REDWOOD]

We have all had the mickey take out of us at some point including myself, move on and one thing for sure you won't forget what a drone looks like

 

[Cazza]

gave some people a good laugh - shame on you all !
QUOTE]

I wasn't laughing. I thought it was brave to post and say it might be a queen.
Cazza

 

[dclewis]

White is not the only colour eye you might see for these genetic errors, a couple of years ago I was getting drones with pink eyes.

 

[Headnavigator]

Don't be embarrassed Andy ... I know someone who had done the course, allegedly read the books and tried to 'cut out' a 'bee nest' in his fathers garden shed which was actually a wasps nest .... he won't make that mistake again in a hurry ... he had been watching too many American You Tube videos I think !

At least you know what a drone looks like now ... and gave some people a good laugh - shame on you all !

The difference is obvious once you see your queen alongside workers and drones..

As I once heard it described: workers look like bees, the Queen looks like a ballerina bee and the drones look like teddy bear bees.

 

[kazmcc]

........ the drones look like teddy bear bees.

I always think they look like big fat bullets lol

 

[Madge]

Hi,

... pretty sure the highlighted bee in the picture is my queen, this time though it was not the green blob that attracted ...

You mentioned a green blob - so, do I see a green blob on the drone's abdomen in the second picture, or is it an illusion? If it's not an illusion and that's where you've marked the bee, then you've marked it in the wrong place. A queen should be marked on her thorax. The abdomen is very sensitive. Apologies if that green blob is an illusion - but as you mentioned a green blob, I started to wonder.

 

[Batcher]

Its not a green blob. Its where the poster has drawn around the bee in question!!! L.... O..L