We have been reading all about bees at night before bed. How they organize the hive. What happens to intruders - they either get thrown violently out, like literally expelled from the hive, OR if they bring a bribe for the guard they are allowed in to take a small amount of honey. The stages of work they progress through and how the workers determine how many drones are needed or when a new queen is needed. They control this by the size of cell they build and by what they feed the larva. They are so complex and interesting that we find ourselves sitting outside the hive just watching how they interact. Yesterday was the first day they began bringing pollen back! That means they are settled enough to go out and begin foraging for nectar and pollen.
I found two bees the other day that were victims of our sugar water accident (we dumped several cups of sugar water down onto the hive being clumsy). I put them in front of the hive entrance to see if what I thought would happen would. It did, their sisters came to them, rolled them right side up and began cleaning the sugar off of them with their tongues. Unfortunately it was too late for these girls, but so cool to see that they are all looking out for each other. We will get to inspect as soon as it gets sunny for a good chunk of time. Maybe this weekend! Hopefully we will spot the queen and see the progress they are making on drawing out the frames with wax.
One more bee story I meant to tell:
I was out in the yard and a bee landed on my shoulder, which was unusual. I started to walk towards Aaron so he could coax it off of me when she flew on her own and then collapsed on the hive. She was exhausted! It took her a few minutes of rest before she made it to the entrance. They are such hard workers and only live for 6 weeks once they become a worker bee.
1 comment:
How cool is that! I didn't (don't?) know anything about bees, so all that info is very cool. I might have to do some bee reading :-)
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