> > Does it mean anything when the queens pipe, or is it just something they
> > do?
>
> AFAIK, no one really knows. Some say they are calling each other to duel
> it out to the death.
 
I have always thought it is the queens ways of communicating with each other.I
have never heard the sound when there hasn't been another queen present,
in the hive or in a nearby queen cage. Several times when I have been looking
through hives that are about to swarm I have found the old queen walking on
the frame with swarm cells, piping loudly with the confined virgins answering
in another tone. As long as the old queen is there piping, the virgins stay in
 
their cells but when I remove the queen they will hatch out immediately. So
I think it is the feromones from another queen that causes the piping, but
only when there are young queens present. It may also be when the queens
aren't heading a colony, because two queen (or more) colonies don't have
the sounds.
 
Worker bees sometimes make a similar sound, but not the same as the queens,
and not so loud.
 
 
--
Regards
 
P-O Gustafsson, Sweden
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