Line dancing Bee's

[ducky]

I have one hive where a lot of Bee's are on the landing board and on the face of the hive they appeare to be line dancing? They seem to be working together taking 2 steps ahead then 2 steps back.Can someone inform me what is going on inside this hive and should I be concerned about swarming?

[cphilip]

Sounds like the Texas two step to me... are they Texan?

Are they fanning?

[jim b]

Sounds like washboarding. It's really cool!

Unfortunately, that's all i can say. I can't remember the significance, perhaps abit of housekeeping?

I will monitor the thread for the responses from those who know. Thanks for the question.

-j

[dlowe]

iwas told that washbording or [the washer women dance] was an indacator that the hive was pluged out and there was no more room

[Curtis]

There is not a flow for them to work so they are just practicing their housekeeping duties on the outside. This also helps keep the humidity down on the inside.
Curtis

[Michael Bush]

Washboarding and bearding are two different things. Bearding bees tend to be festooning. Washboarding bees are obviously dancing. I think it's a social dance. Maybe it's a celebration.

[flathead]

http://zacharyfarmsllc.com/washboarding.htm

[Strider94]

There is not a flow for them to work so they are just practicing their housekeeping duties on the outside. This also helps keep the humidity down on the inside.
Curtis

The washboard dance is pretty interesting to see. I wonder if anyone has ever done a scientific investigation to find out what it is they are really doing. I don't have any measurements to back this up but... last year (my first) I believe I only saw it happening when the humidity was high. I don't think my hives were particularlly overcrowded or empty when I noticed it. I do not recall any correlation between washboarding and nectar flow.

Could they just be trying to pull a draft through the hive and out the entrance to help with hive temp/himidity? (The fact that they are all facing the entrance leads me to think that this might be what is going on.)

Could they each be trying to 'micro-cure' a small amount of nectar outside the hive when the humidity inside is too high? (Spit it out, fan it, pick it up, over and over again.)

Could they really be 'dancing' for some other reason?

What other possibilities are there?

[carbide]

I don't recall ever seeing my bees fanning and washboarding at the same time. In fact, washboarding implies that the bees are moving foward and aft in short regular motions. Similar to the motions used while using a washboard to clean clothes before wringer washing machines were invented. To the best of my knowledge no one has ever figured out exactly what they are doing, although there are some theorys out there.

When bees fan, to control temperature in a hive, they tend to firmly plant their feet in order to maintain their position.

[Sr. Tanya]

I always thought that washboarding was akin to twiddling their thumbs. Nothing to do at the moment.

Tanya

[flathead]

Hmmm. Still at it out there, even after dark.

This is a Russian hive and I did a cutdown split a few weeks back. Its three deeps deep.

The frames of 4.9 I have been feeding into the brood nest (center of all three boxes) is well drawn out and has seen a brood turnover. Need to put a few more in.

I think I'll set an excluder and put a medium honey super on so they can start drawing that out.

Maybe they are bored.