In an observation hive I watched a new, just mated supercession queen
over 3 days for several hours at a time. The old queen was still
present, and they stayed on opposite sides of the comb. During that
time she went from a typical virgin behavior, self feeding and with no
retinue, to a laying queen with full retinue, tho still avoiding the old
laying queen. Before she was laying in cells, but when she was beginning
to attract a retinue, I witnessed several eggs "leaking" from her
abdomen into the jaws of a worker. I was never sure, but at the time I
thought the workers ate the eggs.
Next time I'm doing a week-end festival maybe I'll get lucky on egg
moving. I'm very myopic, so if I get close enough to the glass I can
watch minute detail. I rarely use a veil as I prefer to slide my
glasses down and hold frames a few inches from my nose when I check for
eggs in the field; the newbees find it very amusing but it does give
them more courage.
Carolyn in SC....blackberry's out, the flow is ON, such as it is in
these parts...
On 4/20/2011 7:19 PM, J. Waggle wrote:
> I found a reliable witness to
> bees moving eggs:
>
> Gleanings in bee culture
> 1882 March Page 126
>
> One more corroboration was noted. In one hive,
> a queen was observed dropping eggs, not in cells,
> but on the top of the comb, whilst a number of bees
> were, with the utmost order and eagerness, watching
> and picking up the eggs, and placing tbem in cells.
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