Bumblebee Queen returns after 4 days absence in November

This is a video of a Queen (2nd or 3rd generation) coming back to the nest box after disappearing along with every other remaining bumblebee (about 4) on the 6th November, for four days. Astonished to see her alive and come back. Very weak & cold; we fed her & heated her. She flew off but returned twice to the box and has stayed overnight again.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• beejuu
• bumblebee
• bufftailed
• queen
• nestbox
• beepol
• hiberation
• nest

[robomantis]

Was she the foundress or was she produced by the nest?

[niksargent]

@robomantis that's rather an intrguing saga, as there is quite a story here. She is not the foundress and we suspect she was produced by the nest.. in simple terms the timeline was like this:

Late August - foundress leaves and dies shortly afterwards outside the nest.

We then discover 5 or 6 queens she has laid in the nest. They remain there a week or so then disappear all but one, who begins brooding throughout september; we get a 2nd colony from her. She then also dies in the nest but...

[niksargent]

then we get 3 more "foreign" queens arrive in succession visiting and co-habiting in the nest. 1 intially begins pollen collecting & we get more new bees emerge. We stop seeing the first two and then the third starts pollen collecting behaviour (mid october). No idea what the state of any of the broods in there are! This is that 3rd queen - she's been making 4/5 trips a day from the nest until she deserted 5 days ago. Now she's back. We can't be sure if she was born in this nest or not

[robomantis]

@niksargent Very interesting!