Scout or forager?

[Sadders]

Can you tell the difference between a bee scouting for a place to house a swarm and a forager bee?

I have an unused hive (open entrance and full of frames, some foundation and some drawn) sitting bye my french window. I'm enjoying watching the interest it is picking up from the bees. Usually one or two at a time, tentatively circling at first then going in. The interest is picking up. At first was an occasional bee, now most of the time there seems to be a constant trickle of bees checking it out.

Are these likely to be foragers who can smell the beeswax or am I about to get lucky and catch myself a swarm?

 

[wessexmario]

could be either, but if scouts from a swarm are showing interest then I'd expect more than just one or two.

 

[Sadders]

I'm getting nothing done. I've got loads to do today but instead I'm captivated watching low numbers of bees fly round an empty hive.

Love the way that they are very careful about going in, hovering around the entrance, quickly nipping in and out then going in for a good look about.

 

[Barbarian]

As wessex says it could be either.

In view of your location and the likelihood that you have blossoms out, a flow on then I would opt for scouts. Scouts will show similar orientation behaviour to when you get a new batch of foragers making their first flights out of a hive. The scouts/new foragers fly a zig-zag facing the hive.

At a bait hive, the appearance of scouts is always encouraging but no certainty of a swarm coming. You could find that the interest goes.

 

[drstitson]

presumably you bait hive contains nothing for foragers to be interested in?

 

[Sadders]

presumably you bait hive contains nothing for foragers to be interested in?

One frame of crystallised stores would possibly interest them although wouldn't attract them by sight.

 

[Erichalfbee]

You shouldn't have stores in a bait hive. All you will attract is robbers.

 

[Mrs Webmuppet]

On this very subject, I noticed twenty or so bees hanging around in the corner of the garden (where my hives used to live) this morning ......as soon as I put my nuc box in the garden on the bench they went straight for it....didn't even get to put it on its little stand! There's nothing to rob in it, 4new frames and one dodgy old frame.

I had a swarm turn up in the same spot last year ....

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Can you tell the difference between a bee scouting for a place to house a swarm and a forager bee?

The scout has a woggle

 

[B+.]

Scouts sing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rA1Ynm4cqTg

edit: we were on the same wavelength JBM but you beat me to it