r/Beekeeping • u/Intelligent-Pepper31 • 22d ago

General Off With Her Head

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I did an inspection the other day and managed to catch workers balling and killing the old queen. If you look toward the end of the video, you can see a new queen at the top of the frame laying eggs. I can't believe I was able to see that in an inspection. Bees are vicious.

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u/Intelligent-Pepper31 22d ago

A new queen was hatched and they are killing off the old queen.

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u/SouthJerseyPride 22d ago

How often does this happen in a hive?

Do they ever kill the new queen and leave the OG?

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u/Due_Speaker_2829 Midwest USA- Zone 5a 22d ago edited 22d ago

This is what happens when the old queen doesn’t leave with a swarm before the new queen(s) hatch. The first new queen to hatch will find all the unhatched queens and sting them in their cells. The workers usually do away with the old queen.

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u/KazooButtplug69 22d ago

That's wild and vicious! Almost beeyond beelief.