(Cross post to Bee-L and Irish list)

Have you ever wondered how swarming bees decide who goes with the swarm and
who stays.  I have been observing my bees over the past few years using my
observation hive in our dining room (another story) and have started to form
a theory.  I cannot find reference to this process and I am writing to you
today to seek guidance perhaps to other peoples work in this area or your
own opinion.

What seems to occur is this:-
On the day of the swarm the bees have produced queen cells and the first
cells are capped.  The bees start to get 'excited' and as is also known some
bees start to run through the colony on a 'buzzing run' stimulating this
excitement.  This is the start of the swarm and bees pour out the entrance,
but who stays and who goes?

It is interesting to note that not all the bees are leaving, some bees
(un-stimulated ones) are actually returning against this powerful tide.
Within the colony literally chaos rains with bees running very quickly in
all directions continually bumping into each other.  There is a bias to run
towards the exit but a stimulated bee is easily diverted by colliding.  The
bees collide at such a rate and with such force that they cascade down
between the comb in a fashion that is not unlike a waterfall.  It is this
'bumping' that seems to be the key, as it keeps the bees self stimulating
this state of excitement.  Naturally the very youngest bees cannot fly with
the swarm however the rest are chosen by this chaotic process, which only
subsides when the population drops and the bees no longer bump but mostly
run past each other and thus the self stimulation drops.  The hive then
quickly calms down with the population now split.

Hope the above is of interest, has anyone any further thoughts or have I got
it all wrong.
cheers
Graham Law
18/11/01

PS: I had no comment at all when I last wrote about observing bees moving
and storing wax, am writing to the wrong groups? Please advise if this sort
of thing is of little interest and I'll shut up :-)



Graham Law
Leicestershire
UK...

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Web
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