Worldwide Beekeeping

Beekeeping => Beekeeping 101 => Topic started by: ablanton on June 26, 2014, 10:50:51 pm

Title: What are these???
Post by: ablanton on June 26, 2014, 10:50:51 pm

Anybody know what this is?  I'm baffled!  There were two of these.  They were extremely DARK, slick, and shiny bees.   Looked NOTHING like the other bees in the hive.  My girls seemed extremely interested in them and followed them around grooming them.  I've never seen anything like it.

Apologies for the poor quality of the photos.  Didn't have my camera and had to use my phone.

(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs21.postimg.cc%2F7m4w4ip77%2FIMG_20140617_182441.jpg&hash=15913fd339bc564f59de39655fe79ca91d4adad4) (http://postimg.cc/image/7m4w4ip77/)

(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs28.postimg.cc%2Fpdio9d5mh%2FIMG_20140617_182458.jpg&hash=76145e634a5061c112633a5da8d3913018903fbc) (http://postimg.cc/image/pdio9d5mh/)

(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs28.postimg.cc%2Fqh2slbq9l%2FIMG_20140617_182508.jpg&hash=fdef6492f379ae2652e99becfed080cb87d414f1) (http://postimg.cc/image/qh2slbq9l/)


(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs28.postimg.cc%2F7wj5rzu7t%2FIMG_20140617_182356.jpg&hash=f8cbd13fef5befeedcf2e55057f306a0b35c897f) (http://postimg.cc/image/7wj5rzu7t/)

Title: Re: What are these???
Post by: Jen on June 26, 2014, 11:18:54 pm

We have carpenter bees here, they're huge, black and shiny. they can drill close to a half in hole in the side of a house to make a nest.

Title: Re: What are these???
Post by: ablanton on June 26, 2014, 11:23:27 pm

We have carpenter bees, also; but, that's not what these were.  They were about the same size & build as a honey bee.

Title: Re: What are these???
Post by: Jen on June 26, 2014, 11:37:16 pm

Very interesting how your bees are grooming this bee

Title: Re: What are these???
Post by: tecumseh on June 27, 2014, 06:26:14 am

I would guess this is a very old bee.  Like people they have less and less hair as time goes on and at some point they also tend to look very shiny. Quite often such bees are misidentified as german black bees.

Title: Re: What are these???
Post by: tbonekel on June 27, 2014, 07:54:11 am

I saw some like that as well back in march.

(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs2.postimg.cc%2Farj3z29bp%2FDSCN1011.jpg&hash=ebf8385f609d2d9707221084520171d5099080e8) (http://postimg.cc/image/arj3z29bp/)

Title: Re: What are these???
Post by: ablanton on June 27, 2014, 10:42:46 am

Tbonekel - did your bees groom them and treat them like royalty, too?

Title: Re: What are these???
Post by: Jen on June 27, 2014, 10:47:59 am

Wow! soo cool!  I haven't seen a bee like this one yet. But I have seen old bees that were not black like this. Tattered wings, no fur. I love them for working so hard  :)

Title: Re: What are these???
Post by: tbonekel on June 27, 2014, 04:35:21 pm

Quote from: ablanton on June 27, 2014, 10:42:46 am

Tbonekel - did your bees groom them and treat them like royalty, too?

I never saw that happen. Doesn't mean anything though. I only watched for just a couple of minutes, long enough to take a few pics.