Boy, I have the same question, and more:
 
    I just worked the observation hive at the forest preserve near here,
and about 20 percent of the bees are now all black!  They were not
before???  Whazup?  Could bees maybe lose their color?  The rest are a
mixture of bright orange tiger color and light brown, almost reddish
(cordovans?)  What a mixture!  I'm inclined to believe that the queen is
tapping a new source of sperm!
 
   Secondly, a couple of weeks ago, someone here noticed that the bottom
board on one of his hives was covered with honey.  The whole bottom of
the observation hive was filled with honey more than a quarter inch deep!
 Whazup??  Why would they do this?  I spooned it into a cup, and there
was more than a cup of honey (real honey) filling the bottom, almost
blocking the exit.  In five years, that is the first time I've seen it.
 
   Anybody have any ideas?
 
Gerry and the other Visels at
[log in to unmask]
Winnebago, Illinois, USA
 
 
On Sun, 2 Mar 1997 12:39:55 -0500 "MR WILLIAM L HUGHES JR."
<[log in to unmask]> writes:
>Yesterday it stopped raining long enough for me to start treating
>some of my colonies.  I noticed that two of the colonies have all
>black bees.  Just last month they were Italian.  Could a feral colony
>taken them over or have they superceded the old queen and the new one
>mated with "wild" bees.  The brood pattern is excellent and these two
>colonies are full of bees.
>
>Bill Hughes
>Bent Holly Honey Farms
>Brighton, Tennessee, U.S.A.
>