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> From: John A Skinner <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Different bees in hive
> Date: Monday, March 03, 1997 11:47 AM
>
> Bill, It is possible that a feral colony took over or a supercedure
> occured but due to the season and the lack of ferals now this appears
less
> likely.  One possibility is that in the queens initial mating flight she
> mated with drones that manifest dark color. Sperm that had been stored
> inside the queen in her spematheca may now be from dark drones while
> previously sperm came from "yellow" Italian drones. What kind of bee
stock
> are you using now? If you have some Italians and some Carniolans, this
> could be a clue.  Do your neighboring beekeepers use any different color
> stock?
>
> Grins, John
>
> John A. Skinner           218 Ellington Hall
> Extension Apiculturist    University of Tennessee
> [log in to unmask]          Knoxville, TN  37901   (423)974-7138
 
I had a colony that I started with bees from a very good yellow italian
queen and a YUGO queen.  The first hatch were all black but a few weeks
after the colony was started yellow bees began to reappear.   Then still
later there were some more black bees and so on.  They had superseeded the
YUGO queen and raised a yellow Italian queen.  She apparentlt mated with
both YUGO and Italian drones.
>
>
> On Sun, 2 Mar 1997, MR WILLIAM L HUGHES JR. wrote:
>
> > 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 taken them over or have they superceded the old queen and the new one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.
> >
I have also observer that some strains of Italians darken as thy mature.
The young bees out for play flights are very yellow while the more mature,
foraging bees, are very dark.
 
Frank & Phronsie Humphrey
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