Later May I received two generic Italian queens.  Over the season I made my first attempt to raise queens.  My goal was to breed the "Georgia" out of them, open mating with local drones.  (No offence to the South intended) I successfully raised 11 queens and in August requeened my hives with the 2nd Great Grand Daughters of the queens I started with.

I've noticed some unusual behavior since then.  I had one gray queen that was flatly rejected by the hive.  My bees all had a distinct color pattern that made it easy to find them in the field.  Now they are more uniform.  The bees are darker.

Late last fall, I found them foraging my syrup jugs on my deck in a driving rain.  

Except for the 60 plus degree heat wave we had in January, the queens have not really been laying.  I have feed the pollen substitute and syrup.  They have taken both, but it did not start egg laying.

My hives are mostly in full sunlight.  They become active earlier in the morning and stay active later in the day, as long as sunlight is on the hive.  The hives that fall into shadow stop being active.

On several occasions, I've seen them foraging at 38 Degrees.  On a couple of occasions I found them out and on my deck at 28 degrees.  I've checked with the some of the old timers in the state.  They tell me their bees are rarely out under 48 degrees.

Does anyone have any idea what breed/species/race my queens have been mating with?

Jim Hock
Wethersfield, CT.

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