# Visual difference between a mated queen and a Virgin?



## Barhopper (Mar 5, 2015)

Give her time. Up to a couple of weeks after hatching. She has to harden up, do mating flights, get back safely then start laying. Try to stay out for awhile. She'll do better with out intrusions. 
Good luck


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## Riverderwent (May 23, 2013)

"is there anyway of telling if a new queen is mated other then eggs/larva?"

A virgin queen will be relatively shorter and thinner in the abdomen than a mated queen, she will be more runny, and will not be as bothered by daylight.


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## burns375 (Jul 15, 2013)

Above is a good description. Shorter tail and fast on the comb


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## Knobs (Sep 20, 2014)

Just look for the 14 to 20 rings on her finger that all the drones gave her on her wedding day.

Seriously its almost impossible to tell visually. 

I have the same problem with some of the banked mated queens that I have received. Often times they have been banked for so long that they are very small and appear to be virgins. Its really hard to tell that they were actually mated and sometimes they can take a week or so to start laying again.


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## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

http://www.beesource.com/forums/sho...ore-After-Pics-Virgin-then-Mated-Laying-Queen


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## Knobs (Sep 20, 2014)

I assumed that the OP was trying to determine the difference between a virgin queen and a mated but not yet laying queen. Its not that hard to tell the difference between a virgin and a mated and already laying queen. Just look at the abdomen but it doesn't really get that much bigger until she is laying consistently.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

A virgin queen has an abdomen almost shorter than her
wings where as a mated queen will have an abdomen almost
1.5x longer than her wings and heavier abdomen
dragging herself over the comb. But the most noticeable is that
being a virgin the worker bees don't care as she run around the comb. Treating her
much like any other bees in the hive. For a mated queen, the worker bees will surround her in a circle grooming and
feeding her constantly when she wander from cell to cell to lay. At one time I saw a mite on the queen's upper abdomen then
after a day the mite was gone. I assume that the grooming bees took care of the mite leaving the queen mite free. I don't think a
virgin will get that kind of a treatment when she run too fast on the comb marking her territory to be the future queen of the colony.


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