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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Subject:
From:
James Fischer <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 23 Mar 2023 20:33:25 -0400
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It does not seem to be the cold alone that causes the death of the temporarily resurrected bees - when tagging bees for tracking in an ob hive with (old-skool) colored numbers or (the new hotness) barcodes, you briefly chill the bees in the freezer for about 30 seconds to a minute to immobilize them while gluing on the tag.  The glue dries and the bee warms up in about the same time, so the bees recover nicely, and fly off the table when they are ready, and find their way back to the hive entrace.

Several times, mistakes were made, and bees were left "too long" in the freezer, but they also recovered and flew off, and were later detected in the hive, so even a few minutes of freezing was not fatal.

I've never bothered to test to see how long one could freeze a bee and still revive it, I'm not cruel.

But the true "kamikaze bee" is the one that flies straight into your forehead as a warning to leave the hive alone, or the next bee will sting.  Few beekeepers notice this, as they are wearing veils by default, and don't notice, but many who work bees with their veil lying on their back by default have noticed this phenomena.  Most often, the hive has been open too long, or the smoke has not been applied with enough aplomb, so the guard bees start to realize that something is amiss.  One can also hear the hum of the hive go up a semitone or so, from G to G# or from G# to A.  Another clue that its time to put some more smoke on, finish up with that hive, or at least put up one's veil, as the bees are getting testy.

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