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> My grandfather (a beekeeper) said the queen had likely stopped at each spot to consider it for a hive (leaving pheromones), then moved on, and the swarm lande
by jly 7y ago
> My grandfather (a beekeeper) said the queen had likely stopped at each spot to consider it for a hive (leaving pheromones), then moved on, and the swarm landed at each place.
Usually (but not always) when you see multiple swarm clusters like that, a hive has sent out more than one swarm, each with it's own queen. The primary, largest swarm will contain the original hive queen while the others will contain virgin queens. If they happen to combine into one cluster, the queens will likely fight and only one will survive to lead the swarm.
The queen never leaves the swarm cluster, and has no bearing on the decision of hive location. The swarm sends out scout workers who inspect locations for suitability and report back to the cluster. Through a voting process, the workers decide and move as one to the permanent home.
If you're interested in this topic (which is fascinating), there is a great book on it called 'Honeybee Democracy' by the bee researcher Thomas Seeley.
> That said, my grandfather was a beekeeper and a father is a beekeeper and I'm a little uncertain about how much of their hobby is built on communal agreement, anecdotes, and personal experience as opposed to scientific data.
Partly because of the commercial value of honeybees to our food production, they have been studied to an extent not seen in many other organisms, certainly not most insects. We know a LOT about their behavior, although there is still much to learn.
What's really interesting is that beekeepers often neglect what we do know about how bees evolved to live so that we can keep them in ways that make our lives easier. This is often detrimental.
- ergothus 7y ago> What's really interesting is that beekeepers often neglect what we do know about how bees evolved to live so that we can keep them in ways that make our lives easier. This is often detrimental. Do you have examples that don't apply to mobile hives? That sounds like an interesting topic.
- jly 7y agoIt's a very interesting topic and one that is widely debated these days as beekeepers face mounting threats from disease. This is a good overview with some references that also worth digging into: https://www.naturalbeekeepingtrust.org/darwinian-beekeeping https://www.naturalbeekeepingtrust.org/darwinian-beekeeping
- lostlogin 7y agoThere are some interesting points there but many are inaccurate. Difference 4 discusses the loss of antimicrobial colony walls. They coat man man hives, it’s there. There might be less but the amount depends on the age of the gear. Difference 6 relates to hive entrances and how snow blocks them and they are the wrong design. This maybe true somewhere, but many places have no snow and good beekeepers adjust their entrances to suit the conditions and prevent robbing. This is superior to an uncontrolled entrance. There is criticism of wax removal. Old wax spreads diseases and makes disease management harder. Yes, making wax consumes energy, but it improves hive health. Point 18 discusses the human selection of larvae for queens, or culling of poor queen cells. Strangely, bees choose queen larvae poorly. If a colony is queenless they need a new one. The best queens are fed royal jelly early, but a queen is needed fast if a colony is queenless. The first queen to hatch is usually the winner so the older larvae fed jelly wins. These queens tend to be poor. Human management of bees keeps them alive. Unmanaged they die, fast. Often bees are kept where they wouldn’t be naturally, so deaths may not all be bad, but humans go to a lot of effort to keep colonies alive by working with bees, not against them.
- the_af 7y ago> The queen never leaves the swarm cluster, and has no bearing on the decision of hive location. The swarm sends out scout workers who inspect locations for suitability and report back to the cluster. Through a voting process, the workers decide and move as one to the permanent home. > If you're interested in this topic (which is fascinating), there is a great book on it called 'Honeybee Democracy' by the bee researcher Thomas Seeley. Fascinating! So it isn't a monarchy after all? :P Thanks for the recommendation.
- jjoonathan 7y agoHaha, it's a monarchy -- where all the queens who didn't listen to their subjects are now dead for some reason. Funny how that works!
- w1nst0nsm1th 7y agohttps://hadinur1969.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/thomas_d_seeley-honeybee_democracy_-princeton_univ.pdf https://hadinur1969.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/thomas_d_see...
- DonHopkins 7y agoMonarchies are for butterflies.
- monkeycantype 7y agoI’ve seen this breeding research ant colonies in captivity. I would flood colonies that had overgrown their enclosure to move them into a new container. The queen resisted while workers fought to move her, until they reached a critical mass and forced her to the new enclosure