Honeybee_ Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper - C. Marina Marchese [28]
WASHBOARDING
Washboarding is a somewhat mysterious behavior that occurs at the entrance of the hive. Worker bees stand in groups with their bottoms up and their heads down. Their four hind legs support their tiny bodies while their two front legs scrub the surface of the wooden hive entrance. To me, they really look like they are line dancing. I’ve heard they are polishing the hive by sealing up cracks in the wood, but no one has seemed to figure out the exact meaning of this behavior.
SWARMING: THEY’RE NOT RUNNING AWAY, ARE THEY?
Bee swarms are a common event in the spring when the hive population increases and the brood nest becomes overcrowded. Although swarming honeybees may appear (and sound) threatening, they do not carry honey, pollen, or young bees in need of protection; therefore, they are not terribly agressive.
When a hive swarms, 30 to 70 percent of the bees leave with their original queen to form another colony, while the remaining bees stay in the original hive and raise a new queen. A few days before swarming, the original queen will begin to lose weight and lay fewer eggs. The bees, noticing these changes, will begin the process of raising one or more new queens inside what beekeepers call swarm cells. Such cells are similar to queen cups but are often found protruding from the bottom of the frames and are often even attached to the wood of the frame.
The swarm cells are filled with royal jelly and capped while the queen larvae develop. Before the new queen emerges she will let out a high-pitched, shrilling sound beekeepers call piping. This sound is an announcement and warning to any other new queens, and even to the old queen. When more than one queen emerges from the swarm cells they will either fight to the death, with the victor becoming the new queen, or one of the queens will leave with a portion of the hive population in a secondary swarm.
Swarming is a disconcerting experience for the beekeeper, but once you know the signs, it is possible to manage it before it happens. The most obvious sign of an upcoming swarm will be the swarm cells found at the bottom of the hive frames. Beekeepers regularly remove these cells with their hive tool to prevent swarming. During the spring, beekeepers might also reverse the deep bodies to create more room in the hive for brood rearing. The queen tends to begin laying eggs in the bottom deep and then move upward to the top deep. By the time spring arrives she has filled the top deep with eggs, so reversing the deeps will once again create more space for her to move into and lay, thus limiting the feeling of overcrowding in the hive.
Unfortunately, I did not learn about swarming until my first swarm was upon me. It was mid-afternoon during my second spring as a beekeeper. I was working in my garden, transplanting a box of seedlings into their new home of raised beds, when I looked up and saw what looked like a miniature tornado at the entrance of my beehive. Thousands of honeybees hovering in the air like a turbulent storm. I dropped my small spade and cautiously walked over for a closer look. As I approached, I could hear the bees’ powerful, low-pitched buzzing. Just as I arrived, the swarm began to move slowly toward a tree branch overhead. Their migration was a dramatic sight to behold—perfectly orchestrated, as if there should have been an operatic aria playing in the background. As the swarm approached the branch, several bees lighted on the limb while others followed. There they united as a huge cluster dangling from the branch. Spectacular! The cluster grew larger and larger, the bees clinging to one another to form what looked like a gob of honey dripping off the end of a spoon. It swayed gracefully in the light breeze. And then, rather abruptly, the swarm fell to the ground in a clump.
My maternal instincts kicked in, and I dropped to my knees to find the queen in the pile of bees