Bee Behaviors

[Terri Yaki]

The waggle dance is pretty well known as a method of communicating a few different things to the colony but what other behaviors are there that bees partake in?

My mentor showed me how some of them whip the others to work in the morning and get them started. I've noticed that once the sun comes up, it looks like some of them take a brief flight to test current conditions and determine if it's time to get moving or not. Once it reaches about 50F, activity starts to pick up but it's kind of light until it warms up a little more.

What else do they do?

[The15thMember]

Lots of things!  Which is one reason why opening a bee hive is so much fun.    Bees will clean each other, which can look kind of aggressive sometimes.  They will set up fanning lines to move air from deep in the nest to the entrance.  If you ever use any foundationless frames, you'll see bees festooning, where they make a bee chain out of their bodies to build comb.  If you are really focused on communication-based behaviors, there are bees who will walk around and buzz other bees on the back to alert them to the fact that the colony is getting ready to swarm.  Bees who return from foraging trips are not only dancing about what they found, but also handing out samples.  And of course bees are constantly switching up the tasks they are performing based on their age and the current needs of the colony.  I mean, every single task the bees are performing could be considered a behavior really, so the list is basically endless!  Dr. Seeley's work is something you could check out for more information on bee behavior.  Honeybee Democracy of course deals with everything swarming-related, but The Lives of Bees talks about the natural behaviors of colonies in many different situations.   

My mentor showed me how some of them whip the others to work in the morning and get them started.

I've never heard of this.  Could you describe it a little more?

[Terri Yaki]

I've never heard of this.  Could you describe it a little more?

The hive was open and on top of one of the frames there was one bee going around nudging on other bees. According to him, that was a 'get to work' nudge. It was kind of a push from the side and maybe a little wing action but not much. Logically, it coincides with the scouts that I've observed going out early to see if conditions were good enough for work.

[BeeMaster2]

Nurse bees are the ones that decide what is needed and how much they need. They decide that they need pollen, nectar, water or propolis. The scouts job is to find the needed supplies and tell the other bees where it is.
Jim Altmiller e

[Terri Yaki]

Do the scouts come back loaded or empty? What do they do, just fly around looking for stuff like food, water and potential new homes? It does look like a good number of bees 🐝 come home empty handed but I suppose that they could have a pouch full of water or nectar.

[BeeMaster2]

Terri,
They bring back what they were looking for, do the dance and give the bees watching them a taste of what they found. This is why bee like water that has a smell of some sort over pure water. It makes it easier for the other bees to find what the scout found.
Jim Altmiller

[beesnweeds]

Do the scouts come back loaded or empty?

Empty, scout bees are looking for a new home before and after swarming.  When a swarm bivouacs in a nearby tree scouts will return to the swarm and waggle dance the location of the new cavity.  Tom Seeleys "Honeybee Democracy" goes into detail about bees choosing a new location.  Foragers on the other hand will bring back resources and share location if it's a productive source.   Tom Seeley just released a new book "Piping Hot Bees and Boisterous Buzz Runners".  I think what you may be seeing are buzz runners.  I didnt get the book yet.  The strangest form of communication to me is pre swarm and you can hear queens piping with workers and queens in cells replying.

[The15thMember]

It does look like a good number of bees 🐝 come home empty handed but I suppose that they could have a pouch full of water or nectar.

You can sometimes notice that bees with full crops are heavy laden by the way they land.  They kind of crash down on the landing board because the load is a lot to manage and their trajectory is a little off.   

[Terri Yaki]

I?ve seen a couple stop on the weeds out front and take a break when they missed the porch. After a minute or so, they finish the flight.

[Michael Bush]

Washboarding is fun to watch.