Maybe we should ask, haven't you ever listened to your bees?
I, as you well know, agree that the average beekeeper can't even tell queen-right versus queen-less. More experienced beekeepers often can hear this, possibly even colonies ready to swarm, whether a colony is weak or in trouble, or whether it's overtly aggressive.
James Bach, the long-time apicultural inspector for the state of Washington could hear colonies with varroa mites in commercial apiaries - he said that the beeyards with varroa were noiser. He even did some work with a decibel meter. Jim had the advantage of years of inspections before the mite arrived in the US, and then many years of inspections after the mite became established.
Also, I've watched Randy work hives - he watches bees on frames to judge their reactions, and I'd assume he's also listening to the bees. Randy is one of the few that I've seen 'watch' bees as he inspects. It's something I do and teach my crews. Watch and listen, use smoke judiciously.
Whether any given beekeeper can 'hear' and correctly judge any specific aspect of colony status seems to vary by individual - some don't have very good hearing, some lack the experience, some have never paused to listen.
Unfortunately, the human ear isn't very good compared to many other animals. And we vary a lot from individual to individual. That's why we turned to microphones and AI-powered machine analyses years ago, just as the folks at Utah are doing now.
Jerry
P.S. Every beekeeper meeting that I go to, I now ask - can you 'hear' a queenless colony? Hold up your hands. Always a few do.
But I've always walked a yard before starting inspections or any routine work, watching and listening.
In a message dated 6/11/2019 12:04:33 PM Mountain Standard Time, [log in to unmask] writes:
I just read this:
> Many beekeepers listen to their hives to ascertain the state of their honey bee colonies because bee buzzing carries information on colony behavior and phenology. Honey bees generate specific sounds when exposed to stressors such as failing queens, predatory mites, etc.... While experienced beekeepers can tell audio changes in sounds produced by stressed colonies, they may not always be able to determine the exact causes of the changes without hive inspections.
My question:
Who among you is "ascertaining the state of their colonies" by listening to them?
reference:Vladimir Kulyukin, Sarbajit Mukherjee and Prakhar AmlatheAppl. Sci. 2018, 8, 1573; doi:10.3390/app8091573 www.mdpi.com/journal/applsci
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