A while back I had the chance to rescue a hive of bees from a meter box. This particular bee was Tetragonula Hockingsi.
One of the main ways that people differentiate between native bee species is their brood structure.
I wanted to write about an interesting comparison I had between two Hockingsi bee hives. The colour of their brood and their behavior. Keep in mind these two hives were sitting right next to each other for some months. Their boxes are the same.
Have a look at the pictures below.
Forgive me for poor photo quality, these were taken at night through a clear viewing panel with a phone.
The first is a very reddish brown and the second a light yellow.
Interesting thing is that these pictures were taken very close together. You can see the Hockingsi bees on the right have almost enclosed their brood while the Hockingsi on the left have left it open.
These two bee hives also had very different personality’s. The one on the left is quite an angry bee hive, Sending attack bees at a slight bump or wobble of the hive (Even at night). The one on the right could be opened in the heat of the day with no problems.
Could these bees be slightly different? Who knows but I thought I would write about it anyways.
Hi Nick.
Nice to see your website up and running. It looks really good and your posts so far are informative. Way to go. I have read that the hockingsi species (hocks) are divided into two groups genetically. There are a wilder northern type and a gentler southern type but they are still one species. It seems that people are moving them around the state on boxes and we now have some of each sort in Brisbane. Look forward to more posts from you.
Dean.
Hi Nick.
I have recently come across a very week hockingsi colony that has been butchered I desperately need some queen cells and brood to save it can you help me
Thanks Peter .
Hi Peter
Where are you located. I do a lot of work with hockingsi, and will be propagating numbers in the coming weeks. I would be able to get both queen cells and brood if not too late. Had unneeded queen cells yesterday would you believe.
Bob
C. Hockingsi will do both a covered brood and an open brood. I find in the hot tropics, they tend to make broad open broad in summer to allow heat to escape, then many will put a lid on it to contain heat in winter. A lot depends on the box construction, density of bees, climate.
For instance, my hives in summer will have the whole bottom of the box covered in brood and very open, with a second layer half way up and even a third at the roof. All designed to live with 40C temperatures we had this summer.