Found this poor thing making a racket in my shed, let him calm down then gently helped it to freedom.
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y20/Dirkdigger/buzzedout.jpg)
ahhh. great picture. they do get in a right old tizz dont they?
That's a queen. There was a time when they thought very hive had a king bee dishing out orders, till someone saw one lay an egg and realised that the 'king' was actually a queen.
and the first thing i did was look at her bum !!! :o
how can you tell Robert ? Nice photo DD, bet if you put her through the photoshop treatment she'd look like a new Dr Who character !
;D
Simple; at this time of year there are no bumblebees except queens! She starts a nest somewhere, and raises the first generation of larvae, which emerge as adults and take over the work. As they haven't been very well fed, they're pretty tiny. As the nest grows, there are more workers available to care for brood, and the bees are better fed and bigger. At the end of the season, queens and drones are produced, they mate, and the nest dies out as the old queen stops laying eggs. The young queens survive to start new nests the following year.
Beautiful pic DD ;D
super pic :)
Great pic Dirk and loved the info RB :)
I had a bee in my living room yesterday that you could have barbequed it scared the life out of me i did get a photo not sure how clear it is because it was at the top of the net curtain, i shall try and put it on tomorrow.