Four beautiful Italian queen bees arrived in the mail today. They each came in a cage with several young nurse bees that take care of the queens in transit. I gave each cage a drop of water and put them in a cool dry place for the night.
The queens were piping in their cages when they arrived. This is one of the most special sounds to hear in the world - it is a very high pitch sound that almost sounds like a whimper. They make these sounds by vibrating their wings. Researchers think that it is a warning sign to other queens as they ready to do a battle to the death. I have often heard this sound when many queens are together in shipping cages but have never heard it in a hive.
To hear queens piping, click on the player:
The queens are marked with a green mark of paint on their Thorax. There is an international color code system whereby queens are marked according to the year they are born. All 2009 queens are marked green.
Tomorrow, we will install the queens into the queen less colonies.
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