Bees mating ?

amandstu

I came upon a couple of honey bees in some undergrowth (actually the foliage of a sickly fennel plant in the garden).They were buzzing a bit and when I investigated they were piggy backing.I wasn't sure if they were fighting or coupling but it seemed to go on for a few minutes before I tired of looking at them.(they crawled away under a lump of soil after the foliage they were in was removed)

I was under the impression that only the queen was allowed to mate and that she was larger than the other bees.But these 2 were the same size.
Does anyone know what would have been going on?(I don't think they were fighting and I am certain that they weren't wasps)

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Sometimes when virgin queens swarm they will fight other virgin queens for a nest site. This fight is often to the death. However it's a bit late in the year for swarming. Bees may try to rob other hives when nectar is scarce but this would involve an attack on the intruder by more than one bee from the hive.
Certainly was not mating - wrong time and not inside the hive.
Were these honey bees or bumble bees?
I'll have to think further on this. ??.??

dodderangler

I'm still seeing plenty around now.
Anyone know what do bees and wasps do in winter. Some say they die off but surely not all of them.

swifts need our help!

dodderangler wrote: »

I'm still seeing plenty around now.
Anyone know what do bees and wasps do in winter. Some say they die off but surely not all of them.

Only queen wasps and queen bumbles survive the winter. Honey bees remain active but inside their hive

amandstu

Joey Dry Slingshot wrote: »

Sometimes when virgin queens swarm they will fight other virgin queens for a nest site. This fight is often to the death. However it's a bit late in the year for swarming. Bees may try to rob other hives when nectar is scarce but this would involve an attack on the intruder by more than one bee from the hive.
Certainly was not mating - wrong time and not inside the hive.
Were these honey bees or bumble bees?
I'll have to think further on this. ??.??

100% certain it wasn't bumblebees-or wasps.

I don't think this was happening near a hive (although I don't know where the hive is actually even though I have looked for it since the hives that I did know were killed of in the last 2 bad winters).

I could go back tomorrow and look to see if there is a dead bee in the place they were grappling since ,if it was indeed a fight to the death I don't think they will have moved from the spot (there was no resistance as such from the bee that was underneath that I could see)
Edit -I had a look this morning but there was nothing there...
If they were fighting what weapons were they using? (I thought the sting was just to be used in self defence as the attacker would lose its life as the barb would be intractable)

Grolschevik

swifts need our help! wrote: »

Only queen wasps and queen bumbles survive the winter. Honey bees remain active but inside their hive

Really? I've seen wasps 'wake up' and emerge from their hiding places in the crevices of a bale of peat briquettes, even in the depths of winter, once they get warm enough.

What's going on there, so?

(Bales kept outside, brought in as needed, one or two dopey wasps per bale).

jdee99

honey bees will remove dead bees from a hive - and they also evict any male (drone bees) at this time of the year. Honey bees fly all year but during winter their flights are greatly reduced but they still fly

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Grolschevik wrote: »

Really? I've seen wasps 'wake up' and emerge from their hiding places in the crevices of a bale of peat briquettes, even in the depths of winter, once they get warm enough.

What's going on there, so?

(Bales kept outside, brought in as needed, one or two dopey wasps per bale).

You said it yourself - warm enough. When it is cold enough they die. Hibernating Queens are usually all that survive to the following Spring. It is possible that these were all hibernating queens sheltering among the bales.

Grolschevik

Joey Dry Slingshot wrote: »

You said it yourself - warm enough. When it is cold enough they die. Hibernating Queens are usually all that survive to the following Spring. It is possible that these were all hibernating queens sheltering among the bales.

Yeah, but they had been out in really cold conditions. The possibility that they might all be queens didn't occur to me.

Are queens significantly larger? These weren't small, but they didn't look that much bigger.