Afternoon Stroll?

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Joined
May 29, 2010
Messages
6,213
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Location
Norwich
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
3 National Hives & 1 Observation Hive.(Indoors) & lots of empty boxes..
2 hives.

About every other day each hive has an afternoon stroll and flypast.

At first I thought it was robbing sessions but am now not sure.

Dozens of bees walking out of entrance and climbing up front of hive. Casually wandering about, having a short flight and landing back on front of hive.

Many many more bees flying about in front of hive attempting to land on the runway, and whenthey do they walk straight in without being asked for security passes. No fights, no chucking off the balcony. No dead damaged or dying bees.

I have seen some of the ones which have been walking about on the front of the hive walk back down and back into the entrance.

Then after some time everybody goes home....

One thing I did observe is bee/s on the landing board facing inwards and one or two on the front of the hive facing downwards fanning their wings.... are they telling everybody where thay live or telling the robbers where the goods are?
 
Young bee's doing orientation/play flights and going for a poo.
 
whats washboarding ?
 
They're working out how their wings work, and where their hive is...and having a poo!
 
Washboarding......I have heard beeks talk about it... bees hang around on the front of hive in the day and the bees move their mouth parts over the surface of the wood and sometimes mark it. Don't think I've seen it.
 
They could be washboarding but on the other hand they seem to be moving about fairly quick,,,,,, with no time to lick. Just zig zag walking about.
For how much I know about it, I am inclined to think it is just the young ones finding out what the outside world looks like...

Poor things.. If only they new the truth.
 
One thing I did observe is bee/s on the landing board facing inwards and one or two on the front of the hive facing downwards fanning their wings.... are they telling everybody where thay live or telling the robbers where the goods are?

When mine were put in their new hive, I watched them hover in front of the hive, then go back in, there was a fair few doing it. I assumed orientation flights. It was great to watch :)

When they are facing down, do they poke their bums in the air? And was you close to the colony or doing an inspection? There was a thread on here a few days ago, explaining about a cresent shaped gland they have, and they use it to send a warning scent to other bees calling nearby bees home as there is someone or something threatening the hive. I had 3 of them do it at the inspection, but the others just carried on coming and going, ignoring them. I'll try and find the thread.

Also, didn't someone say walking back and forth on the landing board was a sign something wasn't right in the colony?


Nasova gland. Here's the thread http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6039&highlight=gland
 
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Yes they did have thier bums pointing in the air.

Not doing a great deal of walking about on the landing board, there was too much coming and going for that. The walking about was on the front of the hive, admiring the paintwork and wondering where the local Tesco might be...
 
Orientation flights I rekon from your description. Usually late morning. If there have been several poor days there can be quite a lot doing this.

If you have a landing board you will see bees walk out of the hive and turn around to face the hive before taking off. they then zig zag in front of the hive to learn what it looks like and get their bearings. Older bees will take off and land whilst this is going on.

I particularly like to see a big 'clutch' of bees doing orentiations in Spring. Then you know the colony is off to a good start for the year.
 
I wondered if they were looking for a lift back to Yarmouth!!!
 
Five o'clock in afternoon today they came out of the other hive.

They dont walk out onto the landing board and then crawl up the front of the hive, it seems as if they crawl down the inside of the front, then crawl under the edge of the front and then walk up....
 
On warm days, one of my hives has 300-500 bees doing orientation flights - usually between 2.30pm and 3.45pm. It's quite impressive to show to your neighbours :)
 
It's quite impressive to show to your neighbours :)

or not as the case may be.

I think a lot of us would rather that the neighbours didnt know just how many bees are in a hive...
 
They're checking out the paintwork.


That is a very hastily produced hive because immigrants moved into the other one on the day I was due to collect my nuc, and had to rush to B&Queue for some more timber..
 
Orientation flights I have noticed this year on my hive that they have been taking place later than previous years closer to 5pm on previous years 2-3pm.
Dont know if this is down to the bees or if its as a result to the extra nectar flows this year and the young bees having more work to do before they can play.
 
Dishmop If wasps are a problem, you may need to reduce the entrance so it can be defended more easily.

I have hives - nucs are particularly noticable in this respect - that have bees sitting at the front until dark to protect the hive from all the wasps there are about. They pounce on any wasp that gets close.
 
Wasps not causing any problem.

Only seen two or three and they must realise they are somewhat outnumbered.

Did see a rather weird creature yesterday.

Looked to be the size of a big house fly/blue bottle, but had wasp type markings.

Gave it a smack with a bit of wood but didnt see any more of it.. or its remains.
 

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