Another way to attract a swarm

Anthony Appleyard · Jun 9, 2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRoszURcgKY ::that Youtube video shows a Japanese beekeeper in springtime. He puts out an empty wooden beehive, and by it a potted orchid plant in flower of a particular species whose flowers smell like the queen of a dangerous species of hornet. Bees come in force to kill the supposed hornet, and thus they pollinate the orchid's flowers. And this time, the bees include scouts from a swarm, who then fly back and bring in the whole swarm to settle in the adjacent empty beehive.

(Apologies if the video starts with irrelevant timewasting advertisements.)

B+. · Jun 9, 2020

Anthony Appleyard said:
the bees include scouts from a swarm, who then fly back and bring in the whole swarm to settle in the adjacent empty beehive.

Seriously? :icon_204-2:

jenkinsbrynmair · Jun 9, 2020

someone needs to get a hobby instead of constantly spamming the forum with this rubbish

Erichalfbee · Jun 9, 2020

Harmless so far
Just ignore it

Chiangmai member · Jun 9, 2020

Well I thought it was beautiful... Its well known that Apis cerana. japonica pollinates the orchids Cymbidium kanran and Cymbidium goeringii despite not having nectar for the bees to collect, instead they release pheromones as a scout bee deception tactic in order to be pollinated. You can read a paper on it here... Tsuji, Kaoru; Kato, Makoto. "Odor-guided bee pollinators of two endangered winter/early spring blooming orchids, Cymbidium kanran and Cymbidium goeringii, in Japan". Plant Species Biology. 25 (#3): 249–253. doi:10.1111/j.1442-1984.2010.00294.x.

The life of A.cerana here in Asia is intimately entwined with that of the Asian hornets, including Vespa velutina. In addition to the well known behaviour characteristic of cooking hornet scouts alive, A crane they also show a strong tendency to abscond as soon as hornet pressure reaches an intolerable level. A trait that A. mellifera is yet to acquire in Western Europe.