BEE-L Archives

Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

BEE-L@COMMUNITY.LSOFT.COM

Options: Use Monospaced Font
Show Text Part by Default
Show All Mail Headers

Message: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Author: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Subject:
From:
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 16 Oct 2018 20:40:17 -0400
Content-Type:
text/plain
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (38 lines)
> Have you ever wondered who decides it is time to swarm, the queen, or the workers?

I have, this is major question. I was about convinced that it all depends on the queen, her life cycle. By the way, during supersedure the queen gives birth to her daughter, this does not vary with other organisms. Further, in some societies, the parents leave the home to die, so that wouldn't be strange, either. But as I said, I thought it was the colony swarming when the queen became mature, which they would sense. That is, until I read this:

There were signs that the swarm was preparing to leave on 29th June when bees were flying head-on at the entrance to the hive for about an hour in the middle of the day, but no further developments occurred. The next morning it was noticed that an abnormal number of bees were completely stationary on the bottom comb, and that at each side of the two upper combs other stationary bees were arranged with their heads upwards and their wings at an angle of 45~to their bodies, forming a column about an inch wide. 

At intervals the queen was gently pushed by the bees, which sometimes pressed their heads against her body, lifting it up slightly. Soon after, a swarm left but the queen remained in the hive in spite of being chased by the bees from the top comb to near the base of the bottom comb. It appeared as if her legs were being attacked but she was not pushed appreciably. All the swarm bees re- turned to the hive during the next twenty minutes, and after a further fifteen minutes a normal circle of attendants had reformed round the queen.

Near mid-day on 3rd July a cloud of bees was flying between the hive entrance and some small trees a few yards away, and excitement inside the hive was increasing, but two hours later the bees were calmer again. The same sequence of events occurred on 6th July and, as before, the queen kept moving throughout, while tending to avoid the lowest comb.

At 3.15 p.m.G.M.T, there were signs of increased excitement, with more noise and movement in the hive and more bees flying round the entrance. The queen by now was undoubtedly being pushed by one or two-bees at a time. She appeared to be trying to resist and was seen to stagger on several occasions. As the excitement gradually mounted the queen was forced round and round the top and, to a lesser extent, the middle comb.

By 3.30 p.m. all the bees on the top comb were in such a state of frantic activity that they gave the impression of a seething mass streaming over the comb. The excitement was now spreading rapidly to all parts of the hive. The queen by this time had retreated to a top corner of the hive, but at this point was unable to resist any further because of the number of bees behind her, and was tumbled down the side bars of the frames to the bottom comb, where she became hidden.

The swarm issued at 3.35 p.m. and began to settle on a nearby post after some minutes. Very slowly the bees collected into a rather more compact mass, leaving considerable numbers running around the hive entrance or flying between it and the swarm.

During this time the state of affairs inside the hive was little changed except for the reduction in population. Those left were still feverishly moving about, and the queen, when she was located a few minutes after first disappearing from the observer's view, was still trying to move upwards away from the bees which were obviously attempting to force her down. 

The disinclination of the queens to depart with the swarm has been observed by other workers (including Taranov & Ivanova, 1946). Langstroth (1890) states that the queen often leaves the hive only after much of the swarm has departed and may sometimes not join the swarm until the duster has begun to form, thus possibly indicating some reluctance to go with it.

Thus, while the presence of a queen is absolutely essential in a swarm, she presumably plays little part in deciding when it shall depart and, furthermore, is likely to attempt to remain behind when it goes.


Allen, M. D.* (1956). The behaviour of honeybees preparing to swarm. The British Journal of Animal Behaviour, 4(1), 14-22.
* Delia Allen, Beekeeping Research Department, North of Scotland College of Agriculture


ΒΆ

This does not disprove that the bees "decide" to swarm when the queen has reached maturity, but it seemed very odd to me that the queen appeared not to even want to go with the swarm.

PLB

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html

ATOM RSS1 RSS2