two strains of bees or young and old?

[harvey]

I have been seeing a very distinct difference in bees from the same hive.  One has three distinct black rings on it's tail.  The other has a black tail with no rings visible.  Are these two different strains of bees or am I seeing old and young bee's?   This is a swarm I have had for about four weeks now.  I know when I inspected last Saturday there was a good deal of capped brood.   

[wharfrat]

Young vs Old......

When my hive has orientation flights in the evening...it is very easy to see the difference...the new ones are hovering around the hive learning to fly..and orienting...they are all very light colored...

The 'old farts' are either working...coming and going.....or sitting on the front porch having a beer...they are all very dark colored. :mrgreen:

[TwT]

you have to understand how the bee market works, unless you buy a AI or II queen you will get different colors, because about all queens that you buy are open mated, this will give you different colors in workers...