Honeybee_ Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper - C. Marina Marchese [27]
It did not take long for me to become comfortable opening up my hive and working with my bees. Before each inspection, I went through the sequence of events in my head before actually proceeding. I discovered this mental review helped me not to forget any important details. Afterward, I always recorded my hive visits and observations in my beekeeper’s journal, so I could accurately report any interesting or unusual activity to Mr. B. These records helped me especially when I had a question or concern about the hive or the bees’ behavior. I looked forward to each visit as a new adventure in honeybee education and welcomed every opportunity to observe the bees’ behavior. On first observation, worker bees seem to have a simple approach to life, yet the complex and harmonious workings inside the hive tell another story. In time, I would be able to read their behavior. For example, it became clear that on bright, sunny days and when there was plenty of pollen and nectar, the bees seemed quite content. On days when there was little food for them to forage, they were defensive. Beekeeping gave me immense pleasure and purpose. And my bees were always teaching me something about nature and life.
HONEYBEE COMMUNICATION
In order to communicate information to their sisters, worker bees have developed a sophisticated system of dancing around the hive. A honeybee that returns to the hive will do a dance telling her sisters where sources of nectar, pollen, water, or propolis can be found. These dancing bees are called scout bees, and their dances are called the wagtail dance and the round dance. Through these dances a honeybee can communicate distance, direction, and the quality and quantity of the food source by using the direction of the sun. First, each worker smells and tastes a sample of the prized floral source that the scout has brought back to the hive. Then they observe the scout’s dance.
The wagtail dance is preformed on the vertical honeycombs inside the hive, and the steps create a figure-eight pattern. To picture the pattern, first envision the face of a clock. The dance begins at six o’clock with a short walk and wiggle straight up to twelve noon. Then the bee moves to the right, past one, two, three, four, and five o’clock, to reach six again. Another walk and wiggle take the bee up to twelve again, but this time she turns left, moving past eleven, ten, nine, eight, and seven o’clock, and back to six again. The angle of the steps indicate the location of the food source relative to the sun. If the forager bee dances for a short time, the source is nearby, and if her dance lasts longer than a few seconds, the source could be more than one mile away.
STEPS OF THE WAGTAIL DANCE
The round dance is a simpler circular dance that is performed for food sources close to the hive, and the more complicated wagtail dance describes more distant sources.
Multiple foragers may be found dancing simultaneously for their fellow workers at the hive. One worker’s dance may tell of nectar sources, and another of water sources. The workers at the hive may watch several dances before leaving to find one of these sources. Often the new foragers will not locate the source immediately, but they have the ability to investigate a general area until they locate the specific site. Using their five eyes and their keen sense of smell, channeled through their antennae, these highly intelligent creatures then return to the hive and recruit more foragers. And the dancing continues.
THE GROOMING DANCE
The grooming dance is another form of communication. A honeybee dances to tell another bee that she needs grooming. In this dance,