two types of bees in same hive?

[beefree]

went to check on the hives yesterday.   One of them had the usual brown w/gold striped Italian bees flying in and out, and also a lesser number of smaller black bees with pale yellow stripes.  they were not fighting, both kinds were happily nosing the guard bee and then walking on in.  what is going on?  are Carniolians smaller than Italians?  Could they have superceded and the queen mated with a feral German?  the hive was just as laid back as usual, no noticiable change in temperament.  has anyone else had this happen?  
beefree

[Robo]

This is not uncommon at all, especially if you have an open mated queen.  During their mating flight, a queen will mate with 10-15 different drones, and depending upon their race,  your queens offsprings could be amixed bag.  It is quite fascinating to see golden and dark bees in the same hive, your  first instinct is that something is wrong.

[snowzerdog]

When I pickedup my nuc and installed it I noticed the same thing.  Was told the same thing also.

[hobbee]

Now I understand, I have the same mystery. Gold striped Italian mixed with smaller black bees, with pale stripes, and both of them happily doing bee things together. I always taught how funny. So count me too, I got the same thing.

[beefree]

well, then, i'll stop worrying about it, and just enjoy watching them happily doing their thing together...people could learn something from this...
beefree