Our Discussion Forums and Online Classifieds may be viewed by anyone, but posting new questions or responding to existing messages is limited to VBA members.
This icon on any site menu indicates a page or service that is for VBA members.
A strange thing has been happening lately in my observation hive. The bees are becoming more active and a lot of them are running around on the combs and buzzing in the air vents. I assume that this is because the days are getting longer and they can sense it. What is odd though is that I here random buzzing most of the time but in the early evening they seem most active. the randomness will suddenly coalesce to a sustain loud hum that lasts for about a minute and then dies back down. Peeking in at them shows that they are very active during the humming. Last night this happened half a dozen times while I was sitting there. They seem pretty normal otherwise, chewing on their patty, drinking from there feeder and generally hanging around on the combs. The queen has not made an appearance on the visible combs yet and I can see no brood there but they seem healthy and possibly a bit smug as they look out the exit tube at their sister hives covered in two feet of snow. Possibly that is what they are humming about? Anyway, it is a curious phenomenon that I thought I would share.
Maybe they are humming because they forgot the LYRICS ????? 
Too much Winter....Spring can't come soon enough. The observation hive is really neat, keep us all posted.
Too much Winter....Spring can't come soon enough. The observation hive is really neat, keep us all posted.
OK, interesting. I appreciate you sharing what you're seeing in your observation hive, what a wonderful thing to have. I'll stay posted to see if others have any comments on the behavior.
No this isn't like a queen piping ... this is just a hum. Imagine the defroster in your car humming and then you turn the fan up a notch and the volume and frequency increases ... then turn it back down and the hum subsides. This is still happening but they seem none happy and healthy enough.
Hi Don, not sure if this could be your situation this time of year, but still interesting enough to share. Last year I visited the Museum of Apiculture in Radovljica, Slovenia and one of the exhibits was a large booth to stand inside where you could hear unique recordings of the inside of a hive. I could hear the normal consistent humming sounds and then occasionally an additional high pitched singing sound that lasted maybe 5 seconds or more. They explained that the high pitch sounds was one queen communicting to another queen to get out. They said this could be so loud that you'd be able to hear it outside the hive. I haven't heard this yet in real life in my limited bee experience, but I'll recognize it if I do. Have you heard of this?
Museum link:
http://www.muzeji-radovljica.si/4m_cebelarski/4cebelarski_uvod-en.html
Museum link:
http://www.muzeji-radovljica.si/4m_cebelarski/4cebelarski_uvod-en.html
Yes, they are in a room where the temperature has remained about 70 degrees all winter. They were kind of clustered in December and January although in the last couple of weeks, despite the temperatures outside, they seem to be more loosely clustered and moving around the hive. I can see from the dead bees in the snow in front of the exit outside that they have been making cleansing flights just like the outdoor hives.
- Page :
- 1
There are no replies made for this post yet.
Be one of the first to reply to this post!
Be one of the first to reply to this post!