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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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From:
randy oliver <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sun, 29 Jun 2014 19:24:18 -0700
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> Have any of you had any **actual** bee/banana interactions?

I've always been curious about this myself, so got up from the keyboard,
and with complete disregard for my personal safety, went out the bee yard
to perform a very informal ad hoc experiment.

Conditions: 7:00pm, July 29, 82F, end of honey flow, light to heavy
bearding at entrances, with plenty of guards at the entrances.

Materials: investigator clothed in shorts and tee shirt; 1/4 ripe banana
(brown spots, but not mushy), sliced crosswise, heated to about 105F in the
microwave.

Procedure:  rap each hive once sharply with a knuckle to elicit a slight
roar from the colony. Then slowly pass the hand without the banana across
the entrance a few times.  Then pass the hand holding the banana, with the
cut end toward the bees in the same manner.

Results:  Little noticeable response to the plain hand.  Noticeable
response to the banana if held closely enough to the guards (about 1" above
or in front of them).

Great variability in response from colony to colony--some colonies
completely ignored, in others, the guards clearly responded.

Some guards would immediately shiver/shudder, orient toward the banana, and
make a short lunge toward it.  The response would move like a wave for less
than a second through the guards and other bees around them.  The
occasional guard would fly to the banana and land on it, but not attempt to
sting.

In most colonies, the bees would stop responding after a few passes.

At the 8th hive that I tested, the response was far more noticeable, and
grew with each pass, spreading to bees throughout the beard.  After a few
stings to my person, it was clear that for certain colonies already primed
to have guards at the entrance, the smell of banana will elicit defensive
behavior.

Discussion: apparently not a myth.  It could indeed be dangerous to eat a
banana immediately in front of the entrance of a defensive colony.  I would
appreciate one of our members with Africanized bees repeating this
experiment with AHB.  Please post the results.

-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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