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Joined
May 29, 2010
Messages
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Location
Norwich
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
3 National Hives & 1 Observation Hive.(Indoors) & lots of empty boxes..
Does a bee see itself in a mirror? Would it affect their behaviour?

The reason I ask is because I had the idea of putting one way mirror film onto the glass in my nearly finished observation hive.

Mirror side to the bees so they wouldnt be disturbed by the daylight but I can still see them..
 
Does a bee see itself in a mirror? Would it affect their behaviour?

The reason I ask is because I had the idea of putting one way mirror film onto the glass in my nearly finished observation hive.

Mirror side to the bees so they wouldnt be disturbed by the daylight but I can still see them..


If it works (the one way mirror), it will be dark and they can't see anyway.
 
If it works (the one way mirror), it will be dark and they can't see anyway

thats so bloody obvious I feel silly now...:dupe:
 
Don't worry about it :)

Saw a demo hive yesterday, plain glass, the bees seemed fine. Probably good to give them a break though. This one was at our stand at a local show.

If I ever find out how to download a pic off this phone, I have a fair pic of the queen and her ladies in waiting. :)
 
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If it works (the one way mirror), it will be dark and they can't see anyway.

Now I'm confused - if it's dark in with the bees... how can you see them?

From that bastion of fact and truth the wiki:

"It is typically used as an apparently normal mirror in a brightly lit room, with a much darker room on the other side. People on the brightly lit side see their own reflection—it looks like a normal mirror. People on the dark side see through it—it looks like a transparent window. The light from the bright room reflected from the mirror back into the room itself is much greater than the light transmitted from the dark room, overwhelming the small amount of light transmitted from the dark to the bright room; conversely, the light reflected back into the dark side is overwhelmed by the light transmitted from the bright side. This allows a viewer in the dark side to observe the bright room covertly."

So if the inside of the hive is the "darker room" then they'll see the outside world perfectly, but you won't be able to see in.

Alternatively, if the hive if the "brightly lit room" then they'll see their reflections, and you can see in, but the hive will have to be more brightly lit than the outside world.

(I think...)
 
Now I'm confused - if it's dark in with the bees... how can you see them?

From that bastion of fact and truth the wiki:

"It is typically used as an apparently normal mirror in a brightly lit room, with a much darker room on the other side. People on the brightly lit side see their own reflection—it looks like a normal mirror. People on the dark side see through it—it looks like a transparent window. The light from the bright room reflected from the mirror back into the room itself is much greater than the light transmitted from the dark room, overwhelming the small amount of light transmitted from the dark to the bright room; conversely, the light reflected back into the dark side is overwhelmed by the light transmitted from the bright side. This allows a viewer in the dark side to observe the bright room covertly."

So if the inside of the hive is the "darker room" then they'll see the outside world perfectly, but you won't be able to see in.

Alternatively, if the hive if the "brightly lit room" then they'll see their reflections, and you can see in, but the hive will have to be more brightly lit than the outside world.

(I think...)

It won't work in a hive as the inside of the hive would have to be brightly lit which in itself for many reasons just isn't practical, plus queen would try and find a dark corner to hide in. So back to square one and normal glass would be a better option unless you went down the route of IR cameras.

A great site to see a colony live is - http://www.hobos.biozentrum.uni-wuerzburg.de/preview
They have 5 cameras set up on and in one hive and track all sorts of data live.
 

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