Sorry I haven't replied sooner,  Been doing my duties at the Brisbane Show
where the beekeepers have a stand.

> Interesting observation by Trevor . I on the other hand have never heard a
> worker make a piping sound.

I heard it again earlier this year.  Same situation where I was looking for
a queen bee in a nuc.  I heard the piping coming from a frame I was looking
at but did not see the bee doing the piping this time.  When I put the frame
down to look in the nuc, the queen was running around the bottom of the box.
So it could not have been her making the piping noise but a worker.

> However when Trevor says  "is the piping sound we call queen calling
> actually the workers" that the story has problems.

The piping sounds the same to my ears.  It may be that it is different if
you were to be able to analyse the piping on some sort of machine.

> I have also been involved with a large incubator full of queens (without
> attendants) piping.

So does the queen and worker make the same sound?  Is it a similar sound
that sounds the same to the human ear?

> I do not dispute that Trevor did not hear a worker piping (I never have)
but
> do dispute the hypothesis he presented in his post that it might be the
> attendants doing the piping and not the queen.

I cannot prove it.  All I know is that I have heard and seen workers piping.
Bob has heard the piping from queens only in an incubator with no attendants
so the queens must be doing the piping in that case.

There was research project here in Australia to looking to see if the piping
sound could be used to find queen bees.  Will have a look to see what I can
find on its conclusions and post it.

Trevor Weatherhead
AUSTRALIA