Worldwide Beekeeping
Beekeeping => Beekeeping 101 => Topic started by: DonMcJr on May 26, 2014, 04:44:52 pm
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Talked to a fellow Beekeeper today and he told me about a Man named "Herb" who is a Michigan Beekeeper in our area that is 80 years old and has been beekeeping since he was 5 year old. Herb told him what's below about a hive being Queenless or not. I have a Swarm I was wondering if I caught the queen or not and I also have a Hive that is Queenless and making a Queen right now. Below what Herb said is a video I just took.
Pretty Interesting....tell me what you think!
"Herb on a Queenless Hive"
If the Hive is Queenless the Bees will leave the Hive with their Wing's open like a “K” and walk around before they fly off. If there's a Queen they walk out with wings closed and fly off quick.
Note: I saw this actually happen on a Hive I had that was making a Queen. Hive #6 of 2014.
http://youtu.be/eEdQTgVNMJ0
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this is extremely interesting to me. I can't wait to see what some of the more experienced of us has to say on this!
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I'll be monitoring this thread, and my new hives, as well. Old-timers tend to have "it" down. Let's see if that stands true!
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Don't think anyone saw this yet...shoulda put it in General Beekeeping...
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It has 57 views. Just good info, but few replies until we have a chance to test it.
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Yep.. have a couple making queens.. if they havent emerged yet I will check and see if they do this.
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Thanks for posting Don! I have observed some of this behavior before. A queenless hive acts like they don't have a "mission". While a queen right hive comes and goes efficiently like time is precious. The only time I ever observed a K wing pattern was a hive I suspected of getting into some type of insect spray. I didn't lose the whole colony, but I had a lot of disoriented bees dying at the entrance on the ground. They were displaying the K wing formation and spinning on the the ground.
I would be interested in hearing if anyone has noticed the general mood of a queenless hive being different. I don't want to hijack the thread, just interested in comments.
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Well my "queenless" hive should have a virgin queen making mating flights and they stopped the "k" activity and drew out almost all the deep frames...
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Interesting. Thanks for the info and the video. These old timers have been a lot of help to me.
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Your queenless hive in the video is proof that this is just hearsay.
Flying out of there on a mission by the looks of it.
Only girls walking around are the guard bees
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Twofer if you watch closely the so called guard bees actually walk around a bit with wings open then fly off...I dont believe guard bees fly off to forage...
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Don, kinda hard to see the detail watching on my phone. After watching on a larger screen they do have k-wings it seems. Only time I have seen k-wings is with heavy mite loads.
The real test will be if they stop doing it after they have a queen or die from mites!