# Queen with chewed off wings?



## Lauri (Feb 1, 2012)

Some of my 2 year old queens have chips out of the ends of their wings..the only part of them that looks beat up and worn at all. 
Maybe you queen got too close to the smoker heat, LOL that is hard on their wings. Ya, don't light that pile of scraps when the bees are flying. You'll find them crawling on the ground with wings that look like your queen.


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## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

Lauri said:


> Some of my 2 year old queens have chips out of the ends of their wings..the only part of them that looks beat up and worn at all.
> Maybe you queen got too close to the smoker heat, LOL that is hard on their wings. Ya, don't light that pile of scraps when the bees are flying. You'll find them crawling on the ground with wings that look like your queen.


Would have had to been before she got here, we don't really smoke except a puff in the entrance and a puff in the back once we break the top bars. And we're several bars from comb at this point. I could see how a flame thrower would ruin their wings in a hurry though. I always wonder how much they get tossed around in their cage on the long truck rides from Georgia/California.


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## greathorned (Apr 25, 2013)

Are you sure they did not do that before they sent your package. Normally people ask to have it done, and there usually is a $1 charge. Did she have wings when she showed in the cage inside the package?


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## johng (Nov 24, 2009)

I have noticed that a few times and each time I also find a younger queen in the hive also. I think it happens on occasion when they supercede. Look a little closer to see if you have another queen in the hive.


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## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

greathorned said:


> Are you sure they did not do that before they sent your package. Normally people ask to have it done, and there usually is a $1 charge. Did she have wings when she showed in the cage inside the package?


This would be the most complete clipping I have ever seen (but I have limited exposure, mostly just seeing pictures). I do not think that that's the case here. Where there is still some wing left it's a ragged line that looks almost torn. I will confess that I was not able to see her that closely when she was in her cage. Just shook the package in and closed it up.



johng said:


> I have noticed that a few times and each time I also find a younger queen in the hive also. I think it happens on occasion when they supercede. Look a little closer to see if you have another queen in the hive.


Haven't seen any queen cells and she sure seems to be laying very well... at least for the time being. The package has only been installed since May 5th.

I'm really not concerned that she doesn't have wings, if anything it will make finding a swarm easy if she survives that long.


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## KiwiMana (Oct 23, 2009)

I have seen that as well, the bees usually supercede her pretty quickly. So watch out for the broodless period.


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## JRG13 (May 11, 2012)

She'll be fine, she don't need any wings anymore anyways. I had a new queen like that last year. I opened the nuc to check on laying, and found her getting balled or maybe opening up the nuc caused it. Either way I rescued her and she flew right back to the entrance twice before I could get her in a cage. Both time she flew back, she got balled immediately. I left her in the cage overnight after leaving her out while I inspected and put her back in. I released her the next day without incident, found her again the next day doing fine. A week later she's laid up a few frames but her wings looked like garbage, figured she maybe got chased by something on a mating flight she took after I let her out. A week later, she's laying up a storm still and her wings are even more tattered and about 2/3 gone, she won't be swarming anywhere but she overwintered just fine in a 5 frame nuc and is leading a double deep 10 frame hive now.


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## oldiron56 (Mar 9, 2009)

Odd thing, I read your post yesterday and never saw a queen like that. I opened a nuc today that I smoked a virgin into the day before and noticed that they chewed her wings off. I pinched her and smoked another one in.,,,,,,Pete


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## rsjohnson2u (Apr 23, 2012)

I too had a queen this spring look like that, I pinched her, She was a new virgin that had emerged the day of inspection. I figured there was no way she would ever make a mating flight. Luckily, a queen emerged out of one of the other three capped cells. Now waiting to check on her. Funny, the year I started, I got a package, and could barely stand waiting three days to see if the queen was released. Now, I'm finding it even harder to wait two weeks to see if a virgin got mated and lays (oh, I don't know, about FIVE times harder  )


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