Do bees learn to recognise their keppers?

[TheDruid]

Hi I was wondering if bees can learn to recognize their keepers base don pheromones or something? do they get used to particular individuals and then mellow out a little in their presence?

[iddee]

Summer bees live for about 6 to 8 weeks, then die. If a beek works his hive monthly, an individual bee sees him once as a house bee and once as a forager. Does that answer your question?

[kmartin]

Maybe another way of looking at is, what would be the survival impetus for this type of behavior?

[JohnK and Sheri]

Try going into them 2 or 3 times a day, 3 or 4 days in a row. They will recognize you all right.:D
Sheri

[drobbins]

you got that right Sheri
mine recognize me well enough to chase me all the way to the house trying to kill me:rolleyes:
they particularly don't seem to like me when I steal all their food
imagine that:)

Dave

[Troy]

drobbins...... I guess if my bees know me, then they don't like me very much.

Last weekend I had one bee giving me a hard time 100 feet away. She had a real attitude. Maybe she did remember me.

[notaclue]

When I used to sit back there all the time with a morning cup of coffee or tea they got very used to me. When I go back there to work them I'm armoured up and if I do it more often then they may get to know me as two people. That's what I was told any way. But I never know anymore.

[Putz]

OK, OK, so i'm Crazy...
I do say my bees know me. They let me know when somethings not right in the hives by flying around my head when I'm in the back yard. Everytime they do that, I check them out and see something amiss. My bees are more gentle this year than any year I've kept bees, and I've only been stung when I accidentally squish them. They seem to take pleasure in me being around. I think they know that I look after them. I can't pin it down, it's just the way they act when I'm around or working them. My bees are in my back yard and I'm in the back yard daily, working the garden or just sitting around enjoying the yard. And, who's to say yes or no whether or not the older bees talk to the younger bees and let them know the things that are outside the hive? Perhaps the older bees let the younger bees know that I care for them and try to make conditions as good for them as I can? I know, I'm a beekeeper with a passion for the bees, crazy some would say. :D

[deknow]

actually, they seem to be able to recognize individual faces (from a photograph, so no scents involved).
http://www.world-science.net/exclusives/051209_beesfrm.htm

...probably can recognize individual bears and raccoons as well, i would think.

deknow

[Ravenseye]

I think they recognize:



A bare spot on my arm, back of neck or legs
The noses of my dogs
Any opening in my veil or bee jacket
The relaxed look I have when I'm walking away and think that they're all done with me

!!!!!!!

[ScadsOBees]

They do recognize me. Probably from the smell.:eek: Usually after an intense hive-check. They will buzz and try to kill me in the yard. Everybody else is safe.

Rick

[beedeetee]

My experience is the same as Scadobees. After making nucs, finding the queen to replace or other intense checks, one or two might harass me in the back yard for the rest of the day. Everyone else just enjoys the fun. And no...I don't wear my stained, stinger fill suit around to impress the rest of the family and neighbors for the rest of the day.

[Tia]

I can sympathize, Troy. There always seems to be one renegade bee who's out to get me, yet the others are very friendly. They come and check me out, making circles around my face (per deknow's submission). I'm one of those idealist beeks like RayMarler who likes to think my bees know me. . .

[alpha6]

This is why I dress up in a bear suit to harvest honey....don't want um getting aggressive with me when I'm just taking care of um. :D

Here I am fishing one day and some guy trying to steal my fish. :mad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_VlVckrUgY

[dcross]

I work near my hives with little to no problem. My co-gardener no more than gets out of his truck and they go for his ear!

[paulnewbee1]

I going out today and post my picture near the hive so when I go out they wont come after me. I have been so good tho them and they still want to sting me. I got it in the face a month ago now I wear my vale all the time,
They know me as the Mask Man

[Michael Bush]

Mine always can tell me from everyone else. And that's not a good thing.

[Dr.Wax]

Yes they can.

"Do you ever wonder why bees sting your apiary visitor and not you? Do the bees know the beekeeper? New research from England demonstrates that not only do honey bees recognize human faces but they can also discriminate between similar ones."

Check out the following article and scroll down to the section entitled, "Have You Seen This Face Recently?"

http://www.entomology.msstate.edu/newsletters/bee-news/beenews0406.htm

Bees probably have a highly evolved level of pattern recognition. They would need it to recognize flowers.

[NasalSponge]

I think they recognize:



A bare spot on my arm, back of neck or legs
The noses of my dogs
Any opening in my veil or bee jacket
The relaxed look I have when I'm walking away and think that they're all done with me

!!!!!!!

:D:D:D

[Oldbee]

It would be nice [or NOT!] to think that 'our' bees recognize us as their,..'caretakers/keepers'. We try to do our best to do what we 'think' is most beneficial to their survival as a hive. We try to be gentle and not,..'act like a BEAR' in our movements around them. We have learned from experience that 'smoke' seems to calm them but,...not too much,...or too little and they seem to be,.......'friendly' and do not sting us [too much] lol. We have also learned that 'light' colored clothing compared to dark, influences their response to us.

I don't know about 'face recognition' because most beekeepers wear veils, but if the 'research' about that can be trusted at least we know bees recognize differences in their [visual] environement; duh! We also know they have an acute sense of smell, perhaps far beyond what 'we' understand as 'odor'.

It appears that some beekeepers 'scoff' at this idea that bees,...'recognize their keepers',..for 'better or worse' but not all the manipulations that we do would appear to the bees as,..benificial to them. I do agree with iddee, but some of us beekeepers are around our bees every other day and the guard bees are,..well,.. 'still there',..lol.

This is a 'research' project/subject for the hobbyist beekeepers much like the citizen scientist projects that are promoted by nature lovers in general; birds, insects, reptiles, mammals and plants.
I am sure NOT much research [and for what reason] has been done on this subject, although I am also sure it has been of interest to beekeeepers for many, many years.

[JohnK and Sheri]

They sure do recognize the syrup tank on the back of the truck come fall, that is for sure. OK, maybe they just smell it.;)
Sheri

[Oldbee]

You know,...you know, lol..one of the neatest ways to have winter birds come to your hand for seeds is to put a stuffed 'scarecrow' like object by the feeders; move it closer every day; VOILA!,...bird in hand.

So, put a cardboard 'statue' of yourself by your bee hives, maybe with sugar syrup in your/the hand. The bees will LOVE you!! LOL. I know, I'm on a roll; better quit now.