What do you call your girls?

[Tia]

I got an interesting phone call from a college student yesterday. Her professor is a beekeeper and has assigned her the project of coming back to him with "bee nicknames." He's not looking for apis mellifera or any technical terms; he's looking for things like "the girls." As a matter of fact, "the girls" is the only one I could think of. Do any of you call your bees by a nickname? If so, and you can let me know what it is, I'll pass it on to Jennifer.

I'm really curious myself at this point. . .never heard any other nicknames.

[NorthALABeeKeep]

Once when I was stung about 5 or 6 times by a hot hive I told the people at work I was attacked by angry females. They laughed a lot.:)

[Barry Digman]

Bees.

[honeyman46408]

Well it is kinda acording to the mood they are in and how much they are producing :D

Look at these lovely ladys :D

look at this bunch of lazy beezzs :(

When I go to collect a swarm if there are a bunch of people standing at a distance I talk to the swarm asking "hey girls you want to go to Gary"?

[sqkcrk]

I got an interesting phone call from a college student yesterday. Her professor is a beekeeper and has assigned her the project of coming back to him with "bee nicknames." He's not looking for apis mellifera or any technical terms; he's looking for things like "the girls." As a matter of fact, "the girls" is the only one I could think of. Do any of you call your bees by a nickname? If so, and you can let me know what it is, I'll pass it on to Jennifer.

I'm really curious myself at this point. . .never heard any other nicknames.

Don't college students have anything better to do? What class was this for anyway?

I don't call mine anything. They won't come anyway. When talking about my bees I call them bees.

[spunky]

Bees.


Ditto

[Hill's Hivery]

It depends on their mood and mine. I have called them some things that you can't post here. (Of course that is when I had a brain fart and wore sandals to do a swarm removal.)

Most of the time they are "the girls".

[stangardener]

never the girls, always The Bees.

[JohnBeeMan]

When they are sitting around on the front proch they are 'Lazy B***'.

Normally 'little girls' or 'my bees'. The queen is just about always 'queenie'.

[iddee]

Buzz boxes...
Arthritis medicine...
Little ladies...
and at times...*^&)%$^

She called me, too. I gave her the info to sign on Beesource. Maybe she'll be posting soon.

[Oldbee]

Is he a psychology professor? In the "privacy" of my own apiary when the hive is open for a while and they are all lined up between the frames, looking up at me with their antennae wiggling, I have called them [in my mind] a bunch of little,.. "cuties". Other than that, I call them bees never "girls".

[knadai]

Each one that stings me, I call by name.

They are all named "[edit]."

(I didn't make that up and I don't remember where I read it, sorry)

[Hobie]

Sometimes I call them "Melissa" (means "honeybee") They all have the same name. Sometimes I sing them an Allman Brothers tune ("....my sweet Melissa...."). Thankfully, they must not be able to hear my off-key destruction of the song.

Other times they are "the bees." I can't even bring myself to say "my" bees.

[golddust-twins]

> In the "privacy" of my own apiary when the hive is open for a while and they are all lined up between the frames, looking up at me with their antennae wiggling, I have called them [in my mind] a bunch of little,.. "cuties".

Oldbee--you are so sweet :). I do call mine "my girls" or "my bees" or "the bees".

Corinne

[Beaches' Bee-Haven Apiary]

Usually "my girls". If I'm addressing just one bee I'll sometimes call her "honey"... kind of fits, doesn't it?;)

-Nathanael:cool:

[paintingpreacher]

Bees or Little Devils.

[Michael Palmer]

I call my queens...Martha

You know, when you're looking intently for the queen, and finally spot her...

"Marthaaa"

[Walliebee]

I usually call them the girls and give the hives numbers for rercord keeping, but I do work one yard where they all have names.

It's more of a way to communicate with others who use the yard as to what/how each individual hive is doing. For example, there are 'The Cedars' from a swarm in a cedar tree. 'Queen Venable and the Venabee's' are from a cut out that was done at Venable Hall on campus. 'The DuBose's' from a swarm collected at the DuBose House, etc...

Even when they are requeened they have held on to their original names.

There are only seven hives in that location now, so it's easy to do.

[arjay]

i never call them girls. when speaking of something they're all doing, i call them the bees.

"the bees are flying today."

when speaking of something one particular hive is doing, i call them either by their queen's name, or their queen's name, junior.

"lucys are bringing in pollen, and it's only freaking january!"
"iris juniors are in a bad mood today."

occasionally, they're "ow! you miserable b----es, get out of my hair!" but that's... unusual. ha.

[Dale Hodges]

When thier behaving ....Ladies.... when thier not.....

[beehoppers]

Our 5 hives have names: Spot, Minnie, Tye, Jade and Duke.
The nuc is called "The Nuc"

[Ian]

My girls

[JohnBeeMan]

Beehoppers

I bought a couple of hives last yeat from a guy and all his supers had ex-grilfriend names marked on the side.

I am not sure but his wife may have been forcing him to sell.

[Michael Bush]

Bees. The Bees. Sometimes I get self delusional and call them "my bees".

[Ravenseye]

I call the girls, "the girls". And I don't care if anyone likes it or not. So far, not one of the girls has come to me and complained. At least, not with that specific complaint....

Oh, and never "my girls". In the real scheme of things, I don't think there's much "my" to speak of!

[BULLSEYE BILL]

When talking to someone who doesn't know about bees, I call them 'bees'.

When I talk about them to someone that does know about bees, I call them 'bugs'.

When I talk to them directly, it's usually after I just got stung, then I call them directly. "Why you little Bee Itch"!. Because that is exactly what I'll have very soon. :D

[Winterhawk]

I call them God's Bees and I am their Caretaker.

[power napper]

The honeys.
The girls.
The ladies.

[tecumseh]

'the girls' mostly...

[Beemaninsa]

Sometimes when we move bees and the bees drift to one hive and beard on front. We call them buzzard bees.... I have no idea why....

Gotta box full of buzzards over here.

Watch out those are meanie weanies.

Watch out those are black butts.

Those are some nice yella heads.

Weak hives are dinks.

Strong hives are honey makers.

[Riki]

Here in Brazil, some people call the AHB "as tigrinhas" (literally translated: "the little tigresses"), probably due to their behavior...

[Brent Bean]

I call the workers “Dam-it” because that’s what I mutter when they sting me. I call the queen “There She Is” because that’s what I mostly say when I spot her.

[Tia]

Thanks, iddee, for giving her this website. Hope she's reading this.

[drobbins]

I tend to name them according to where they came from
as time goes along I hope they all become known as "split":)

Dave

[Velbert]

O'Baby O'Baby When things are looking good YOU Sorry Heifers when thing are bad.

[bleta12]

Bees.

[Ian]

nothing wrong with calling our bees "mine"
I built thier home, bought them in, care for them best I can, and make my lively hood off them.
I am sure they dont mind if I call them "my girls"
:)

[Oldbee]

"Thanks, iddee, for giving her this website. Hope she is reading this.--Tia. -- That's ALL??

"nothing wrong with calling our bees "mine". I built their home, brought them in, care for them best I can, and make my lively hood off them off them. I am sure they don't mind if I call them,......"my girls". -- Ian. That's right Ian,.. in order to distinguish between your "girls" and the other beekeepers,............"girls".

OK! I want to give the "professor" and his "student" something to,.. "think about".

I give each and everyone of my bees [YES all 50,000/hive] a NAME from A to Z. Sure,.you can distinguish every bee according to the "venation" on the wings and the banding on their abdomens. NO bee is exactly the same; like snowflakes. I'll bet you didn't know that!

I start out with,..........Abby and end with,.........Zedna,. or so,..in English. I then begin again in Chinese with,......$$((*/:=+, and japanese like,.. ^^}{!!]$$. Well, you get the picture. There's,..Polish, Arabian,Aztec, Australian, Austrian,...all the way to the,..Zuni language you can choose from for names of your "girls". ..Have a nice day!

[Ian]

>>you can choose from for names of your "girls

That is what they are, Oldbee, girls ;)
I also refer to the drones as "fellaz"
And the queen as "her grase"

[Oldbee]

IAN. You are right!!

[Deano]

an old beekeeper taught my wife and myself the art of bee keeping .he called his little brownies. so do i

[Dan Williamson]

Bees.

Except when they sting me... Then I have a special name for them. Not always the same name.. Just whatever I think of at that particular moment....

[berkshire bee]

sometimes "my little ladies" or "young ladies"
Last year, for our banquet, I printed up a fake cover to put over the abc's & xyz's of Bee Culture. My cover said something like "The Giant Book of Bee Names, over 50,000 names to give your bees" It got a good response, and I sold out of copies. If you want to buy one, sign your name on the back of a hundred dollar bill and send it to me. ;)

[sierrabees]

I call my bees, "Here bee, Here bee, Here bee." It seems to work best just before sunset.

[riverrat]

I dont have a pet name for my bees. But I do put collars on all the workers to satisfy the local police chief. I started this when the city attorney sent a letter threatening to ticket me for bee running at large if I did not contain my bees to my property. When people tell me they seen one of my bees. I ask if it had a collar on. If they say no then I deny its one of mine. Havent been ticketed yet.:D This has gotten to be a big running joke in our small town

[sierrabees]

riverrat:

collars seem expensive. I just make it a point not to teach English to my girls and if someone gets stung they have to prove the bee was buzzing in Italian.

[Romahawk]

The only thing I ever call mine are S.O.B's when they sting me..... :D

[indypartridge]

Since I only have a few hives, I give each a name: Beezus, Scoobee, Doobee, Suebee and Newbee. When I go back in the house after fooling with the hives, my wife will ask something like "So, how are the bees?" and then pretend to listen while I drone on about how Beezus doesn't look good, Suebee is boiling over, Doobee's mite count is up, etc.

[Nancy Putnam]

All of my worker bees are named Beatrice!:D

And I do call them all "my girls".

[Joel]

"Sometimes I get self delusional and call them "my bees"." :D

Buzzerts
employees
the other women in my life
the girls
the bees
the war department

[mdotson]

I don't really have a nickname for the bees themselves. But, I have two hives, I call one Kate and the other Duplicate. My brother-in-law also has two hives. He calls his Pete and Repeat.

[Sr. Tanya]

This has been very interesting!!

The hive I took from a tree is named St. Simon Stock after the Carmelite friar who lived as a hermit in the trunk of an oak tree when he was a youth.

Another is named after St. Gobnait who lived in the 1200's. She had a strong relationship with bees and used the properties of honey in the treatment of illness and healing of wounds. Her name is the Irish equivalent of the Hebrew name Deborah, which means "Honey Bee." The Bees have long been important in Irish society and were part of the ancient laws called the Bech Bretha (Bee Judgments). In prehistoric times the soul was thought to leave the body as an insect, either a bee or a butterfly.

I name the others after other saints that are associated with bees in one way or another.

Sr. Tanya

[BULLSEYE BILL]

Best post yet, thanks sista!

[irwin harlton]

Also call them "my livestock"

Like the old cattleman says " you got live ones, well your going to have dead ones too"
When I accidently lose one in the coffee shop,I tell all those farmer freiends of mine to check the ear tag.,........ it's never one of mine lol

Also had to do a lot of work on my manure magement plan, this is a reguired law in Manitoba in large livestock opreations.

irwin

[YellowBee]

I worked for an old beekeeper in Nebraska and he use to call them "the little fussies" especially if they were upset or stinging more than usual. Cheers! Les

[Grant]

My son refers to the bees, collectively, as "the other family" that I spend time with.

One summer I made so much money from the bees that I rewarded my wife with a cruise. She even let me come along! She now encourages me to get out there and work what she calls, "my next vacation."

Grant
Jackson, MO http://www.25hives.homestead.com

[dewbeehoney]

I call them beetrice too!

[Firebeest]

-The Girls
-Fuzzbutts
-Buzzbutts
-the "mmmbuzzes"
-Slackers (when out for play flights)
And the queens are always "hey, big girl". Spoken with much reverance.

[Barry Tolson]

Like several others, I named one Bee-atrice, then another one Deb-bee. One that stung me was named Bee-elzabub. I have to admit, I've been somewhat lax in naming them since running out of "bee" theme names. I'm sure this creates an identity crisis for them....I should probably start working on more names so they have good self esteem. :)

[Robert Hawkins]

Lassie, Flicka, Heifer, Honey, Lady, Then I try alphabetical but only get to Alice and Beatrice. My hives are labelled Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta....I read somewhere that they can distinguish letters like that and memorize home.

Told one neighbor mine all had a green dot on them. Can you picture this poor woman, standing out in the garden, deathly afraid of bees, trying to see if she could see a green dot. Ooh my wife was mad. Maybe that's why she left.

Hawk

[hummingberd]

ladies

beelzebub just cuz it sounds funny

beez louise when something goes wrong

the matriarchs of the farm

the gang

beneficials

when speaking about the to others I've been known to say "my bee friends"

my neighbors

the high-rise next door :D

[busybguy]

sterling's little stingers