Nordicul
New Bee
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2018
- Messages
- 90
- Reaction score
- 2
- Location
- Waterford Ireland
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- 3
Bee voyeurism and butt sniffing!
Hi All,
Like the title I get my kicks from watching my girls in action!
I have an outside .IP camera (security type) trained on the entrance and landing board of a hive, linked into my computer network I am able to watch the girls escapades at any time of day, any place on my phone, I Pad or PC.
As a novice BK this has been a wonderful, fascinating introduction to bees and their behaviour. I see what time they rise and shine, bed and can check the weather by them. I get a daily update on the nectar flow and pollen ingress. I have early warning of robbing, can see bees massing outside for weather situations ....fortunately,so far no swarming activity.
Introduction of Millets tunnel entrance created a bit of consternation in the camp but soon settled down, it had though the desired effects on the wasps who turn tail after a few seconds inside the entrance.
My recent first apiguard treatment resulted in quite an evacuation, not just of the bees but also hive debris , chalk brood etc. The other behaviour which I'd not noticed before was grooming behaviour. At first I thought It was guard bees defending the hive as a number of bees would surround a bee and nibble it all over....what the recipient thinks of this treatment is questionable, then they depart.
So, onto "butt sniffing". I'd seen guard bees or house bees mainly attending examining/greeting their comrades head to head and believe this was either guard bee behaviour or nectar exchange., however what about "butt sniffing". Any searches I've done on the subject in bees only pulled up about dogs doing it, nothing on bees!
So what I'm seeing must be something else or else BK's are too polite to mention it?
These recipient bees have another bee pay close attention to their rear end, following them around ,nose to tail sometimes there can be a trail of three or four bees on the job.
My thoughts are:-
1. It may be guard bees more rigorously checking the pheromones of possible intruders, normal smell being masked by the apiguard treatment.
2 It is some sort of food/nectar cue to the hive, akin to a bee dance.
3 Bees have fetishes!
Other thoughts welcomed
Hi All,
Like the title I get my kicks from watching my girls in action!
I have an outside .IP camera (security type) trained on the entrance and landing board of a hive, linked into my computer network I am able to watch the girls escapades at any time of day, any place on my phone, I Pad or PC.
As a novice BK this has been a wonderful, fascinating introduction to bees and their behaviour. I see what time they rise and shine, bed and can check the weather by them. I get a daily update on the nectar flow and pollen ingress. I have early warning of robbing, can see bees massing outside for weather situations ....fortunately,so far no swarming activity.
Introduction of Millets tunnel entrance created a bit of consternation in the camp but soon settled down, it had though the desired effects on the wasps who turn tail after a few seconds inside the entrance.
My recent first apiguard treatment resulted in quite an evacuation, not just of the bees but also hive debris , chalk brood etc. The other behaviour which I'd not noticed before was grooming behaviour. At first I thought It was guard bees defending the hive as a number of bees would surround a bee and nibble it all over....what the recipient thinks of this treatment is questionable, then they depart.
So, onto "butt sniffing". I'd seen guard bees or house bees mainly attending examining/greeting their comrades head to head and believe this was either guard bee behaviour or nectar exchange., however what about "butt sniffing". Any searches I've done on the subject in bees only pulled up about dogs doing it, nothing on bees!
So what I'm seeing must be something else or else BK's are too polite to mention it?
These recipient bees have another bee pay close attention to their rear end, following them around ,nose to tail sometimes there can be a trail of three or four bees on the job.
My thoughts are:-
1. It may be guard bees more rigorously checking the pheromones of possible intruders, normal smell being masked by the apiguard treatment.
2 It is some sort of food/nectar cue to the hive, akin to a bee dance.
3 Bees have fetishes!
Other thoughts welcomed
