May have lost my queen

Thanks to all of you for the help, I maybe a new beekeeper (for now) but I am trying to learn as much as I can, cause I do plan on this being a start of lifetime of keeping bees and I’d to not screw up too bad. I ask questions when I am unable to find the Information my books or online, who else to ask but the people who too have made this a lifetime commitment to helping bees survive. By the way Michael Bush I do find your website and videos to be very helpful. I am going to bring up this topic tonight at our local beekeeper club tonight and if anyone else has had this happen or have seen it. Thanks again

That sounds like a quote from me… five years or so ago…

yes it was, 2011 to be exact

So interesting thing happened I inspected my brood again yesterday and found my original queen turns out she didn’t die but I also found what I believe to be my Carniolan/kona red queen I put in a few weeks ago. I also see quite a few of both breeds (dark kona and light Italian) bees through out the box. The Italian queen was on frame one and kona was on frame six. I guess it’s possible that they haven’t found each other but could it be possible that since they’re two different breeds that could live peacefully together?
I wish I could do a split or stacked 2 queen hive with excluder between but my 2nd box hasn’t arrived and the colony is too small to spit. I’m probably going to just let nature sort them out.

Kona queen with her butt up on the left

Italian Queen

I am not seeing a queen in either of the two top pictures, but my eyes might be deceiving me.

The long abdomen at the top of the frame face down hiding, I tried to get a better photo of her when she came out but then she hide again face down in the comb.

I’ll let others weigh in with their opinions but I would say personally, 90% sure that is not a queen. There are no attendants circling her, and I can’t say I have ever seen a picture of a queen head first in a cell before.

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I’d have to get in the box one more time to confirm but seconds after I took the first photo they covered her.

Thorax (I mean thorax = the round bit behind the head, not abdomen) is too hairy to be a queen. I think it is a big worker.

Sorry you’re right I meant the abdomen…The abdomen looks too large to be a worker. It’s hard to tell from the photo, but I did see her after she came out and it was definitely was a queen. So I’m kinda at a loss, like said I’m probably going to let them sort it out.

I added facing arrows to the bees so you can see how different their behavior is between the two individuals. As you can see with your queen there is a distinct central direction. With the bee in question there is no unified direction.

QUEEN

NOT QUEEN

That is what Is confusing me cause I saw her again and I wasn’t seeing the same behavior as the bees around the Italian queen.

I’m going to check it again this afternoon and see whats going on in there

I’m not the most expert here but usually have an eye for detail & have to agree with Adam & Dawn, I only see the Italian queen…

Jason, please don’t take this the wrong way, but please, leave yer bees the heck alone for a while.

Really, let them sort it out. Either they will or they won’t and you fussing with them doesn’t help.

When I am dying to get in there and ‘look’ I get a tall glass of something to drink and a book and sit next to the hive so I can hear them and smell them and see them and then I leave them alone ; -)

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Oh I know, but in our area we are have an exceptional high pollen flow and after talking to my local bee club there has been a problem with the bees in the valley using almost all the brood comb for honey and I needed to see if my hive was seeing the same issue and it was. So I checked the brood and added my super in an attempt to get them to use the super and not the brood combs to fill with honey (since I’m waiting on beethinking to ship my brood box). Maybe in a month or so I’ll check on them again before added a 2nd brood box. Plus it’s raining and cloudy, I’ll let them bee😉

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I’m like @adagna Adam, I can’t see the queen in the top 2 photos. Your queen has a distinctive bald patch on top of her thorax. All the bees in those top 2 photos look too hairy to me.

The queens carapace on the thorax is very noticeable normally - I thought I was going blind as I could not see the “Kona” - would like to see one for reference

This is from the Apiary I bought her from locally when asked what is a Carniolan/Kona Red: “Ken’s queen breeding area is near Kona’s queen breeding area. So he can’t call his red girls hybrids Italians. Easier to say Carniolan/Kona Red versus Red hybrid.”

Apis melifers carniolan (Carnica) is native to Slovenia. Apis mellifera ligustica (is the Italian Bee)