Workers marked on the abdomen

[Parsonage Bees]

Watching the entrance to my hives I thought I was seeing things but yesterday when I did my last inspections I spotted 4 or 5 workers with similar marks on their abdomen.

Any idea what this could be? Is someone marking their workers for some reason? To test drifting?

No fondant on colony but feeding syrup.

. . . . Ben

 

[Heather]

Surely too late to check drifting, and when I do I use flour sprinkle.
And why open hive at this time of the year? Really the only opening now should be roof off to pop some fondant on to opening in cover board... far too late for syrup as bees haven't the time to reduce and store so it may ferment.

 

[Curly green fingers]

I agree with the syrup my grandads diary's say he would finish feeding syrup by the first full moon at the start of October. After that fondant. C

 

[Hivemaker.]

I agree with the syrup my grandads diary's say he would finish feeding syrup by the first full moon at the start of October. After that fondant. C

Don't even start feeding here until the beginning of October, about the same time as the Ivy starts and, the queens begin to lay again, feeding then goes on until early November.

 

[enrico]

Forage next to wet paint? A mystery!

 

[Jafer2]

Funny i did a post a few days back as i did notice the same on mine. It could be Himalayan Balsam.

 

[coffindodger]

If I've seen this properly (and my eyes are not quite what they might be), it looks as if the marks are on the area hard for the bees to clean. This is how flowers manage to use bees to transport pollen without the bees taking it all. Perhaps they've been completely covered at one stage, but now it just looks like specific marking. That said, I've no idea of the origin, but, from the photo, it could be debris from old HB plants.

 

[Parsonage Bees]

The virtue of feeding syrup this late, not the subject of this thread but with temperatures above average until yesterday one colony was taking it down and previously empty comb now has capped honey for them to use over winter. 2 very small nucs inspected to check they had a queen.

Back to the subject. No himalayan balsam locally.

. . . . Ben

 

[Parsonage Bees]

Funny i did a post a few days back as i did notice the same on mine. It could be Himalayan Balsam.

Found your thread. Sounds similar. Some replies took it in an unexpected direction!

. .. . Ben

 

[Jafer2]

Found your thread. Sounds similar. Some replies took it in an unexpected direction!

. .. . Ben

Lol yes it did indeed i will post phots when i get home

Not a clear pic. You can see it on the top of her head. I couldnt take a photo of one of them who had it all under her abdomen. She wouldnt sit still assuming she is photogenic

 

[eltalia]

@Jafer2

hmmmm... those bees shown do not carry sufficient hair in those parts to shanghi pollen.
Someone is beelining your apiary :-}
h ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beeline_(beekeeping)
"beelining (also known as bee lining, bee hunting, and coursing bees) is an ancient art used to locate feral bee colonies. It is performed by capturing and marking foraging worker bees"

Bill

 

[wightbees]

Trapping worker bees has been done before to see where they are. I'm not going into detail but basically someone marks them to see if they return to the next trap!

 

[Jafer2]

Trapping worker bees has been done before to see where they are. I'm not going into detail but basically someone marks them to see if they return to the next trap!

hay they better not be touching my girls

as for the jelly white/gray thing ive been talking about well just found out what it is its them secreting bees wax from the abdomen aha! i found it weird why i kept on seeing so many with it and a little research led me to this:

https://waxingkara.com/where-does-beeswax-come-from/

here you can see her again but this time a bit more clear. looks like the same as op's. same stuff on others but on abdomen

 

[Swarm]

Some tripe being talked in this thread. At a guess I'd say some of your bees have found a source of fondant.
Himalayan Balsam? Certainly not, that leaves a creamy white, lantern shaped mark on the bees thorax.
An attempt to nick your bees? What a load of nonsense.

Time to leave the bees alone and definitely not the time to be opening hives and taking photos.

 

[Jafer2]

Some tripe being talked in this thread. At a guess I'd say some of your bees have found a source of fondant.
Himalayan Balsam? Certainly not, that leaves a creamy white, lantern shaped mark on the bees thorax.
An attempt to nick your bees? What a load of nonsense.

Time to leave the bees alone and definitely not the time to be opening hives and taking photos.

thanks for the concern but these are old images that i never got round to posting. Its still warm here in Birmingham and they still busy in the hive collecting nectar and pollen. The image of the bees in the front was from last week and didnt need to open up the hive to take a photo

as for the fondant they havent touched it, havent checked recently if they have or havent but will leave them to it. as for the abdomen its clearly beeswax now ive looked at the photos properly.

 

[Swarm]

The OP shows top bars and seams of bees and no sign of polycarbonate reflection so that tells me the crown board has been removed.

 

[Jafer2]

Sorry thought you were referring to me.

 

[Parsonage Bees]

Jafer2, Undershots show either wax flakes being produced and what could be pollen on the thorax. Not the abdomen.


(OP = opening post?)
Yesterday was sunny here 15-16degC so I took the chance to have a last look. Check I have queens in these 2 nucs, there was virtually no brood last time I looked and whether they had stored the syrup I've been providing.
Won't open them again. Promise.

If you were bee-lining wouldn't it be easier to mark the thorax.

My preference is that they've found a source of fondant in someone elses hive and are involved in theft.

. . . . Ben

 

[Millet]

Jafer2, Undershots show either wax flakes being produced and what could be pollen on the thorax. Not the abdomen.
Ben

It looks like the Abdomen to me and like Jafer stated it looks like wax plates not pollen, the original picture of the white deposit is also on the Abdomen, i may be missing something here but that is the way i see the pictures.

 

[Wingy]

I've seen a few of mine looking similar this last week but mine have a block of fondant and that's what I thought it looked like. Looks like your little girls have been naughty little thieves lol