Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: wayne on June 02, 2012, 11:39:37 pm

Title: As black as pitch.
Post by: wayne on June 02, 2012, 11:39:37 pm
  Worked a bee tree removal today for the County. Dead limb with a 2x4 foot cavity and a hive in it. The bees were common ferals for this area, darker than a common Italian and a bit smaller.
  The kicker was a nest we found on the other side of the tree in a hole in the trunk. Hard working little buggers that weren't much bigger than flies. And dead black in color.
  Tried to get pics but they are really hard to see. Will try again this week.
  Is there a native black bee in the US? If not what strains tend that small and black?
Title: Re: As black as pitch.
Post by: BlueBee on June 02, 2012, 11:46:53 pm
Sounds interesting!  Can't wait to see some photos.
Title: Re: As black as pitch.
Post by: hardwood on June 02, 2012, 11:51:19 pm
Might be some carry-over genetics from the apis melifera melifera, German black bees. Could also just be regular ol' black bees :-D

Scott
Title: Re: As black as pitch.
Post by: AllenF on June 03, 2012, 08:12:47 am
Pics please.   So they had honey comb, right?
Title: Re: As black as pitch.
Post by: wayne on June 03, 2012, 11:08:16 pm
  Here's a pic. Those black dots are the bees. The tree is in the center of a county
 road so stopping to get pix is tricky. There is comb in the hole.
  I'm going back to try to catch one for a closer look.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/sgtwal/bees/blackbees.jpg)
 
Title: Re: As black as pitch.
Post by: kingbee on June 04, 2012, 06:50:53 pm
... Here's a pic...

Compair your's to these.