# Need help classifying this queen honey bee



## JRG13 (May 11, 2012)

I dunno, between the bad marking job and blurry pics, it's hard to tell. If I had to guess, Russian maybe.


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## ralph3 (Jun 3, 2012)

German Black/Caucasian/Carniolan just a black honey bee.

If they aren't too evil I would graft like crazy out of her.

If you got her with the mark on her then it's something somebody bought. Who keeps bees within a five mile radius of you? They would know they once had a black queen cause they tried to give her a bath in paint.


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## Bill91143 (Jun 7, 2013)

She looks like my Russians. Carniolans look like that, too. I, too would like to know if she was marked prior to you catching her.


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## BeeBoys (Mar 25, 2012)

Haha I must admit guys, the terrible marking job was done by myself. I was dealing with an old paint marker with frayed tips. But the marking job was just for the photo sessions anyhow. She'll get a proper marking today. I captured this swarm over 20 miles from my house. No previous markings on her. I will try to get better photos of her today.


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## ralph3 (Jun 3, 2012)

If they can be worked with no protection and little to no smoke. I'd graft like crazeh from her.

As far as the marking. You're always gonna screwup some stuff it's life hehe. Next time take the marker and mark on the side of the hive body or somethin until the tip gets nearly dry so when you dot her. It's only a thin coat just enough to be solid color.

This year is red too.


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## Lburou (May 13, 2012)

Dansk farms sells a 'tiger stripe' queen bee...Very similar. I have a couple of them, they are very gentle -cross between cordovan and carniolan bees.


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## BeeBoys (Mar 25, 2012)

Thanks LB, I will keep you guys posted. Hopefully get some better pictures on here.


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## Oldtimer (Jul 4, 2010)

She appears to be mated so she will be the mother of the bees, so you can judge by them. They are all different colors so she is mixed breed, plus likely mated with several types of drones. Going by the bands of hair on some of the abdomens I would say a strong carniolan influence, and the light color likely Italian. My pick is definitely mongrel, with primarily carniolan and Italian influence, maybe a few other bits who knows. Likely to be a pretty productive hive, but as to breeding from it, the progeny will be a very mixed bag, one queen could be very different to another, her daughters could be anything.


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## Lauri (Feb 1, 2012)

If you don't mind, I'll jump into this thread with a photo for you to view for your opinions too.
This is one of my best queens, I love everything about her and the hive...overwintered of course. This queens mother came from a wild swarm in a wilderness area with no other hives in the vicinity . This daughter looks like a big black wasp in some photos when she has her wings outstretched. She looks a bit different than any other queens in my yard and a bit different from her sisters..about 100+ of them that I have grafted.






























The queen mother she is from produced several different colors of daughters. Clearly mixed and genetically diversified. All I know is I was lucky to get my hands on her.

All the workers you see in the photos are from her-so you can see different colors there. Some folks like to see all the same colored workers and drones in a hive. I like to see some diversity myself. Hybrid vigor in my opinion.

My first graft from her all hatched out Blond, if you can believe that. But surprisingly, most turned dark after they were mated. The next two batches hatched out dark and turned black as coal after mating. .

Last winter is was hard not to notice most of the bees flying during the winter months were all very dark. So I am leaning toward favoring the dark ones for grafting this year.


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## Bill91143 (Jun 7, 2013)

I have a queen that looks just like her. She is very black and has a long some what slender body. I purchased her from Honey Bee Genetics in California. She is a Yugo queen.


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## McBee7 (Dec 25, 2013)

..Couldn't find the queen in this hive for a year , untill today,

I've heard that tiger stripes are hybreds but I'm dumbfounded...
This one survived -40F this winter with only a piece of styrofoam in the lid and tape arround the joints of the box....
Very slow to start brooding, but she is just starting to ramp up..4 frames of brood but 2 seams of eggs and larve...
just a little smoke and no bee suit 

==McBee7==


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## Sillysweetbee (Apr 15, 2018)

What a bunch of wonderful looking queens and I think you got very lucky with this dark beauty. The Tiger stripe is quite lovely, kind of seems like a reverse of the usual bee color.


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## NicoleV (Jan 20, 2017)

I wish I took a picture of them, but I ended up with two queens (they were sisters) that were amber brown with dark brown spots on them in between the stripes. I don't remember if I kept one or not, but I'll take a picture of I see her next time!


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