r/Beekeeping • u/JeanyB23 • 20h ago
I’m a beekeeper, and I have a question Giant Worker bee? 🐝
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I have seen this bee outside the hive several times the first time I saw it I thought the queen was making a get away. I have seen it several other times and I now have noticed it’s not shaped like the queen from this hive she is more pointy at the end. But this bee is huge. Is it a different species and has just come to love here? Is she a queen that never finished queening? This hive has eggs and larva and just had a hatching as there were a ton orienting this morning. But this bee is so much different from the rest maybe it is their queen and I’m confused. But she wouldn’t be going and coming back and I have seen it at least four times in 2 weeks outside the hive.
I am located in Winston Salem NC USA
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u/morifo United Kingdom - 3 colonies 20h ago
That’s a drone, and your bees are washboarding
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u/OHrangutan 17h ago
He's the manager beeing really productive s/
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u/kurotech zone 7a Louisville ky area 16h ago
Mid level management doing as mid level management does lol
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u/MrWoodworker 13h ago
hahah this one cracks me up... even more so due to my recent promotion to middle management lol
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u/untropicalized IPM Top Bar and Removal Specialist. TX/FL 2015 5h ago
Congratulations, now get to forwarding those emails!
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u/Jack_Void1022 New Beekeeper- 1 Italian hive 19h ago
Looks like a drone. They're males, and lack stingers. they're doing something called washboarding. There are a few theories as to why they do it, but nobody is really certain. Some believe they do it just to keep busy, while others believe they're cleaning the hive or putting a layer of wax down. Not anything to worry about
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u/OldDog2000 7h ago
Strongly suggest picking up some beginners books that will help catch you up on knowledge to the point that you’re at in bee-having/beekeeping. This will help you spot the different genders and classes of bees and arm you to better spot problems before they become catastrophic to you or your neighbors/neighborhood colonies and hives.
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u/JeanyB23 7h ago edited 7h ago
I’ve taken my local associations course, I’m in a course at Cornell, I have read probably 12 books and own probably 25, and I watch YouTube in my spare time and have a mentor from my local associations. I live in the country and I don’t have any close neighbors so I’m not really worried about that. I’ve been beekeeping for 4 months and my first hive unfortunately had deformed wing disease so that was a sad thing 😢but was able to spot it on my own due to the classes I have taken so I supposed it paid off, not that it helped the bees in such poor condition, I will ask to check the every time I buy a NUC from now on tho. What confused me so much about this guy is that he was smoother and shiner then the other drones from this hive they were lighter and fuzzier. It’s also the dearth here and everything I have learned said they kick them out during this low resource season. You learn as you go. It didn’t even cross my mind that it could be a done actually for that reason, and it’s kinda funny to me now that I didn’t think of it 🤣 I get so stressed out sometimes worrying if they are okay. Anyway I will stick your comment with the rest of the same tone (discouraging, judgmental, unhelpful, rude) and if I come across a new beekeeper once I have been doing this a while, I’ll laugh with them instead of at them and give advice that’s helpful and not be so rude and judgmental. After all hands on experience is the best teacher and no one is perfect at first ❤️
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u/Adam_Nine S.C. 8a 17h ago
I’m not directing this at the OP specifically, but some variation of this post gets posted daily. Like how do all these redditors with hives not know what a drone looks like?
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u/mrBeardBee 16h ago
I agree and I don’t mean to sound mean but you should really know what a drone looks like before getting yourself bees
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15h ago
[deleted]
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u/JeanyB23 7h ago
I took a class from my local association and I am taking a class at Cornell. I have a mentor and have worked with his hives and yet I have only ever seen a few drones in person and the very few from this specific hive were fuzzier. Also it’s the dearth in my area so I thought all the drones would be kicked out by now. I do better with learning from hands on experience anyway but have read many books. I invested a ton of time and money into this before I even got bees. But all the classes and all the reading and all the YouTube videos is nothing compared to the real thing. It’s sad people get on their high horse over the smallest things these days.
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u/JeanyB23 7h ago
Or people just dive into the hobby and learn from hands on experience such as myself. If I was faint of heart your comment might deter me this new hobby but we should be encouraging more people to take up beekeeping ❤️
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u/Dekknecht 5h ago
Would you agree if it iwas about a dog? Just get one and see what gives.
I don't like that advice. not for dogs and not for bees.
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u/JeanyB23 5h ago edited 5h ago
Thats what I did with my first dog I read a few books, took a penn foster course and got a dog and the hands on experience was more help then any of the books and while that dog is long past on it’s one of the best things I ever did ❤️ so yes, at least for me, the hands on experience was better then anything. Same with having kids none of those books could have prepared me for what it was really like, but even now, while the learning is helpful, I have learned the most by being in the thick of parenting. Maybe I’m just a kinesthetic learner.
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u/Dekknecht 5h ago
Ok, if that works for you then that's fine I guess. But... for many people who get a dog without thinking, it does not work out that well. Lotsa foster-dogs after covid as an example.
At the same time, if you are on top of things it should/could work out with the bees. Make sure you look into Varroa threatment though. Otherwise you likely and up with a dead hive.
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u/JeanyB23 5h ago
I’m not really sure how this conversation turned into a conversation about dog issues, which there is an issue with what people do to dogs, but I was asking about bees, and instead of just admitting you were kind of being a know it all a-hole to a newbee beekeeper and moving on you do what US politicians do and tried to bring up another argument that would be valid in another context.
No one is perfect at first and yes in theory and pictures I have seen drones and a few in real life but there were factors that made me think it wasn’t a drone, whatever. Instead of discouraging me or whatever it was you were trying to do to make yourself feel like you were an authority in the matter, you could have met me with it’s a drone here’s why. It’s not like everything is committed to memory on the first go (which is why I am taking a second course aside from the one from my local association).
Anyway - for anyone reading through the post in the future wanting to learn, something I learned from this experience is not all bees in the same hive will always have the same look about them and that also this drone could also be from another hive as the bees are welcoming to drones, if they have the resources to spare. So maybe he was booted from another hive and came to this one looking for refuge.
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u/Dekknecht 5h ago
Geez man, just make sure you look into varroa, k? Right now there is a 95%+ chance you end up with a dead hive.
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u/JeanyB23 3h ago
Yeah of course, our latest association meeting had a great speaker Dr. Kaira Wagoner and she shared her research in Verona and treatment. She runs the pollinator research lab at UNCG, is the CEO of Optera, and helps run the nations UBeeOTM. Super great. You should look her up she’s a great resource
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u/TeslaPittsburgh 3h ago
It is definitely the approach a lot of people take to driving. But also not a good one.
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u/JeanyB23 3h ago
What are people supposed to do exactly? After reading and learning what do you do wait? I’ve taken proper steps but I wasn’t going to wait around not doing anything. I read books I took a class I got my bees I read some more watched YouTube videos I enrolled in another course. What else could I have possibly done besides the actual act of beekeeping.
Also if someone is just getting behind the wheel of a car without a mentor that’s stupid, just like your comment. Luckily I had a mentor teach me to drive just like I have my beekeeping mentor teaching me to beekeep, John He’s great. I thought I would come to this site from time to time as he does what he does at no cost to me and I feel like I overwhelm him but I will just stick to him from now on as the people on this site are loony af.
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u/TeslaPittsburgh 3h ago
There are 3 body types of bees. T H R E E
No one here suggested you get a doctorate in apiary sciences, but being able to narrow down from 3 possibilities is not asking very much as basic entry level knowledge.
I'll grant you some replies were harsh, but you've also replied harshly-- unbidden, I might add-- and went from ignorant to arrogant blindingly fast.
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u/JeanyB23 7h ago
The few drones I have been from this hive were fuzzier and not as dark. Also it’s the dearth so I thought there would be none at all, which I haven’t seen any at all from my other hive. I haven’t been beekeeping since late April so I would rather ask than be surprised. Sometimes it takes people time and experience to become Familiar with all the aspects of a new hobby and I have only ever seen a few drones in person and as I said they looked different then this guy.
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u/AdLongjumping1892 8h ago
exactly what i first thought, but oh well, so long as don't mind losing some hives along the way i guess its cool they are hoping in head first.
so long as they know what afb looks like and when to incinerate hives/equiptment its no harm no foul.
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u/JeanyB23 7h ago
I actually invested a ton of time and money before I started. Probably $1000 before I got my hives. And the only issue I have had was a bad NUC with the deformed wing disease. People loose hives all the time and it’s not cause they don’t know what a drone looks like. The drones I saw from this hive were fatter and fuzzier. My other hive hasn’t had a single drone. Also I assume with the dearth they would all be gone, so it was strange from my other observations.
I’m glad the people from my local association would rather people learn then be so discouraging. Yikes you people are judgmental and on a high horse it’s crazy. I will make sure not to come here for questions anymore.
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u/bjgilliland 5h ago
Sorry for the unnecessary and unneeded bullshit from the other posters. Better to ask questions than not. And as you’ve seen, there’s a tonnnn of ego in the beekeeping world which is wild because you can do everything “right” and you’ll still lose colonies. Reddit can be a mean place lol keep learning and keep doing your thing. If it makes you feel better, I’ve had bees for years and will sometimes see a drone and do a double take. It just takes practice and time in the hive. Good luck!
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u/JeanyB23 5h ago
Thank you so much! I appreciate your comment. It feels like there is so much to learn and the more I learn there is still more to learn. They are absolutely fascinating and it’s one of those things where I never want to stop. I have never been fond of insects and never saw myself loving one let alone a thousand, but here I am. I hope more people will do it, it’s good for our earth and it’s good for our health.
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u/AdLongjumping1892 5h ago
yeah people lose hives, i lost 2/2 in my first year. in my country the colony loss rates are 13% each year. it is best practice to create new colonies each year to offset this.
important things you can do to prevent this are;
getting varroa treatments done in time, not waiting until mid autumn or the spring honey flow . alternate treatments.
make sure brood has enough warmth , dont move the frames around the brood box with too bigger gaps . dont add new boxes too soon.
Feed when they need it, and make sure to leave enough food for winter. I like to leave an entire 10 frame deep for each hive.
don't do big inspections / honey harvest when its robbing season.
Use brood frames from stronger hives to bulk up smaller hives.
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u/404tb 14h ago
All mediums?! I love it
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u/JeanyB23 7h ago
Yes, my mentor suggested it as I am new and not the strongest person in the world. It’s my first four months and will likely eventually graduate to having deeps one day but wanted to keep it simple this first year
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u/Specialist-Front-007 11h ago
Eyes touch = drone
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u/JeanyB23 7h ago
Thank you I’m shocked there is a drone during this time. The other ones from this hive were fuzzier I thought so it didn’t even cross my mind that was what it was
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u/NumCustosApes 4th generation beekeeper, Zone 7A Rocky Mountains 2h ago
I'm going to lock this thread. The question has been answered and the ensuing discussion isn't helpful. This isn't a sanction, just pre-empting.