I am a first year bee keeper and had a pretty successful harvest. But of course I have a lot of questions. In some of the books I've read, they advise you to do a thorough hive inspection every time you enter the hive: locate the queen, look at the brood pattern, etc. Do most beekeepers actually do this on a frequent basis? It seems that it would be very disruptive to the hive to do an inspection of this sort which would involve taking off the supers and inspecting even the bottom hive body.
inspecting your hive
1 - 20 of 28 Posts
Joined
·
578 Posts
as you are a new beekeeper,i would encourage you to inspect your hive fairly frequently and throughly the first year for your benefit,get used to finding your queen ,looking at brood patterns,seeing how they progress,get a good technique for handling frames,get comfortable with your bees.once you got the feel of it,then you can slack off on the inspections.
I agree with Hoosierhiver. It's probably not necessary all the time, but when you're starting out you need to get a feel for things. Before you even open it up, look at the bees coming and going and listen to the hum of the hive. Then note the conditions with the sounds and the signs you've observed. After a while you can hear that something is different in the hive and investigate to see what that is. Then after a while you'll know what kind of noises they make when they are being robbed, when they are rasing a new queen, when they are queenless, when a new queen hatches etc. Then you don't need to open them up so often.
If you open the hive and you really don't have the time to go through everything, don't. But if you do go through the hive, it will be a learning experience.
If you open the hive and you really don't have the time to go through everything, don't. But if you do go through the hive, it will be a learning experience.
>Please describe for us the sounds for the follwing:
I'm not sure I know HOW to describe them. They are all buzzing sounds. They vary in volume. They vary in pitch. They have other sounds mixed in. Sometimes clicking sounds and sometimes a few bees doing something different from the rest. I just try to get a feeling for them.
It's like saying what a rose smells like. It's hard to say, but I recognize it when I smell it. You'll really just have to observe to learn them. I have an observation hive, so when they start sounding different I look for the cause or watch for the next few days to see what they do. That's really the BEST way to learn.
I'll try my best to remember the sounds.
>1) When they are being robbed
There is a dissononce to the sound. Some bees are buzzing at one pitch and others at another pitch, but they don't sound like they are in harmony. Also some intermittent sounds from some solitary bees thrown in that punctuate the sounds.
>2) When they are raising a new queen
Assuming this is a supercedure it sounds fairly harmonious, but it is different than your normal sounds. It's a bit louder and the pitch seems different to me but I can't put my finger on why. I can't remember if it sound higher or lower.
>3) When they are queenless
Once you've heard this and classified it, it's hard not to recognize it. It's not a low steady hum like you usually hear. More highs thrown in. Not as many solitary bees punctuating it as the robbing scenario.
>4) When a new queen hatches
Among other things the real give away here is the queen herself. When she's still in the cell she will be making a quacking sound like a duck. When she's out she will make a piping sound like the pipe with a reed. But the bees are also much more animated and the sound is higher pitched than the normal low hum. More excitment. Less discord than the robbing scenario.
5) When they are preparing to swarm.
They make a sound that moves between two notes. It's not a real high pitched sound, but higher than the normal hum of the hive. It's kind of a warble sound. A bit dissonant.
I'm not sure I know HOW to describe them. They are all buzzing sounds. They vary in volume. They vary in pitch. They have other sounds mixed in. Sometimes clicking sounds and sometimes a few bees doing something different from the rest. I just try to get a feeling for them.
It's like saying what a rose smells like. It's hard to say, but I recognize it when I smell it. You'll really just have to observe to learn them. I have an observation hive, so when they start sounding different I look for the cause or watch for the next few days to see what they do. That's really the BEST way to learn.
I'll try my best to remember the sounds.
>1) When they are being robbed
There is a dissononce to the sound. Some bees are buzzing at one pitch and others at another pitch, but they don't sound like they are in harmony. Also some intermittent sounds from some solitary bees thrown in that punctuate the sounds.
>2) When they are raising a new queen
Assuming this is a supercedure it sounds fairly harmonious, but it is different than your normal sounds. It's a bit louder and the pitch seems different to me but I can't put my finger on why. I can't remember if it sound higher or lower.
>3) When they are queenless
Once you've heard this and classified it, it's hard not to recognize it. It's not a low steady hum like you usually hear. More highs thrown in. Not as many solitary bees punctuating it as the robbing scenario.
>4) When a new queen hatches
Among other things the real give away here is the queen herself. When she's still in the cell she will be making a quacking sound like a duck. When she's out she will make a piping sound like the pipe with a reed. But the bees are also much more animated and the sound is higher pitched than the normal low hum. More excitment. Less discord than the robbing scenario.
5) When they are preparing to swarm.
They make a sound that moves between two notes. It's not a real high pitched sound, but higher than the normal hum of the hive. It's kind of a warble sound. A bit dissonant.
I guess I'll have to find my stethoscope. (sp)
I have heard the queen sounds.
You can hear that from a distance from the hive. I didn't know what it was at the time.
I wish there was a tape we could listen to so we could identify these sounds to diagnose without entering the hives...
I have heard the queen sounds.
You can hear that from a distance from the hive. I didn't know what it was at the time.
I wish there was a tape we could listen to so we could identify these sounds to diagnose without entering the hives...
Joined
·
182 Posts
They always sound the same to me. Of course, I am new at this and don't hear very well either. I will start to listen now that I know there is a difference to listen for.
Greetings . . .
Thank you, MrBEE.
I have been fall-feeding for the past few days. Last evening, as I approched my hive, I heard (first time) from about 20 Ft away, the sound of my bees fanning, as they "evaporate the syrup into honey".
At first, I didnt think the sound was coming from the hive.
Your right (again
![]()
), the sound is HARD to describe, but one that I'll never forget.
thanx
Dave W
Thank you, MrBEE.
I have been fall-feeding for the past few days. Last evening, as I approched my hive, I heard (first time) from about 20 Ft away, the sound of my bees fanning, as they "evaporate the syrup into honey".
At first, I didnt think the sound was coming from the hive.
Your right (again
thanx
Dave W
MrBEE,
RE: "Sounds from the hive"
Can you give us some idea of when the "sound" begins, how long does it last?
EXAMPLE - Raising a new queen:
Begins w/ cup? Capped cell?
Is this sound make along w/ the "piping"?
How long does she pipe?
Please define for
1) being robbed
2) raising new queen
3) queenless
4) queen hatches
5) preparing to swarm
Thank You,
Dave W
RE: "Sounds from the hive"
Can you give us some idea of when the "sound" begins, how long does it last?
EXAMPLE - Raising a new queen:
Begins w/ cup? Capped cell?
Is this sound make along w/ the "piping"?
How long does she pipe?
Please define for
1) being robbed
2) raising new queen
3) queenless
4) queen hatches
5) preparing to swarm
Thank You,
Dave W
>Can you give us some idea of when the "sound" begins, how long does it last?
I've never taken notes on this. I've just observed and have more of a "feel" than a set of rules. Someone else may have observed different behavior with their bees, but here's a stab at this.
>EXAMPLE - Raising a new queen:
>Begins w/ cup? Capped cell?
It begins before they start and changes gradually until she hatches but could have other things mixed in. Especially if they decide to swarm.
>Is this sound make along w/ the "piping"?
>How long does she pipe?
Hard to say. It usually seems to have something to do with other queen cells. The bees will keep the emerged queen, who is the one piping, from the emerging queens, who are the ones quacking. The bees may even confine the emerging queen. It will probably continue until there is only one queen because of whatever outcome the workers have in mind. Whether that is killing the free one, or swarming with the free one, or whatever.
>Please define for
>1) being robbed
They will keep it up night and day until the robbing stops. I always wonder why they keep making it at night when the robbers have gone home.
>2) raising new queen
From when they decide to until the new queen is emerged. Then they make different sounds until she's laying.
>3) queenless
The most right after they discover, but I don't think it quite goes back to normal until after the new queen is laying.
>4) queen hatches (emereges?)
There is a lot of excitment in the hive. But mostly it lasts from when she starts quacking until she emerges. But doesn't really go back to normal until she is laying.
>5) preparing to swarm
The change sounds as long as 10 days, but it's most noticable about 24 hours before they leave.
I've never taken notes on this. I've just observed and have more of a "feel" than a set of rules. Someone else may have observed different behavior with their bees, but here's a stab at this.
>EXAMPLE - Raising a new queen:
>Begins w/ cup? Capped cell?
It begins before they start and changes gradually until she hatches but could have other things mixed in. Especially if they decide to swarm.
>Is this sound make along w/ the "piping"?
>How long does she pipe?
Hard to say. It usually seems to have something to do with other queen cells. The bees will keep the emerged queen, who is the one piping, from the emerging queens, who are the ones quacking. The bees may even confine the emerging queen. It will probably continue until there is only one queen because of whatever outcome the workers have in mind. Whether that is killing the free one, or swarming with the free one, or whatever.
>Please define for
>1) being robbed
They will keep it up night and day until the robbing stops. I always wonder why they keep making it at night when the robbers have gone home.
>2) raising new queen
From when they decide to until the new queen is emerged. Then they make different sounds until she's laying.
>3) queenless
The most right after they discover, but I don't think it quite goes back to normal until after the new queen is laying.
>4) queen hatches (emereges?)
There is a lot of excitment in the hive. But mostly it lasts from when she starts quacking until she emerges. But doesn't really go back to normal until she is laying.
>5) preparing to swarm
The change sounds as long as 10 days, but it's most noticable about 24 hours before they leave.
Well Dave, I think it's a great idea too and I'd pay to have a tape of sounds with narration to go with it.
We need the sounds as they are heard from outside the hive. Maybe placing the mircophone at a crack in the middle of two boxes to record the sounds that would be useful to beekeepers.
But one would think that a college course would have created this for it's classes.
We need the sounds as they are heard from outside the hive. Maybe placing the mircophone at a crack in the middle of two boxes to record the sounds that would be useful to beekeepers.
But one would think that a college course would have created this for it's classes.
This web site has a lot of interesting mpeg's (movies) and a sound file of a queen piping at the bottom of the page: http://hemingwaysouthcarolina.com/more_galleries.htm
I played it for my husband and he thought it sounded like one queen was laugh-mocking the other one
I played it for my husband and he thought it sounded like one queen was laugh-mocking the other one
The quacking sounds come from a queen still in the cell. The piping sounds come from the queen outside the cell. I think the only difference is the way the cell changes the sound.
On the subject of interesting sounds, I was putting in hive top feeders today and had to squash a few yellow jacks during the process. These were the really small yellow jacks about a third the size of a honeybee. Well, after squashing one, this diligent bee went over to inspect the yellow jack. It was almost humorous. The bee would repeatedly poke the yellow jack and then and immediately run back as if he was expecting a big fight. Once the bee figured out that the yellow jack was dead he grabbed it and started to fly away, but the really funny thing was the sound that this bee made during his flight, it was a policeman escorting a prisoner through an unruly crowd. Its almost like I could hear the bee saying, look out I got a yellow jack here
step aside. Ive never heard a single bee make such a loud buzzing sound. It was very surprising.
I am guessing, but I think the term "piping" is describing a reeded pipe. It sounds like a reed intrument.
The quacking sound is not so much like a zoot sound but more like a quack. The tone is entirely different.
The quacking sound is not so much like a zoot sound but more like a quack. The tone is entirely different.
Just a reminder that this great website is so full of fantastic ideas and information!
Electronic swarm detection, is it from Sharper Image, No! it's at: http://www.beesource.com/plans/apidictor.htm
Electronic swarm detection, is it from Sharper Image, No! it's at: http://www.beesource.com/plans/apidictor.htm
1 - 20 of 28 Posts
Join the discussion
Join now to ask and comment!