[herb]

Just for fun: Frivolous and sundry Questions about bees.

1. In the caste system bee colonies have, at what age or level are some of the less desirable jobs sorted out? These job offerings would be following the post young-ling housekeeper, nursery bee.
We have some spiffy get out of the hive jobs. The Scout, the Pollen Collector, the Nectar Collector.
But when, how and why do some become the hive undertakers and the more challenging bouncer at the gate?
After watching one bee return and having difficulty bringing in the sticky propolis I must also wonder if this is a demotion of sorts. YOU miscreant bug are now on propolis duty for the rest of your sticky life!

2. This is pure conjecture after seeing a Drone return with either some sort of leg extension or was it simply, did he return with a hard on after not finding a queen. I may be part of the problem here as I removed some potential queen cells and future happy time for him and they are situated in a rather underpopulated hive area. I doubt the local congregation bar has many other visiting queens.

3. This is a Darwinian question regarding the dispersal of honey bees vs. the bumblebee.
IMO the honey bee is far more conservative when it comes to expansion … sending the mature and short flighted OLD queen to find new territory. The Bumblebee, says none of that. The queen stays in her roost and it is the young queens that must fly out to find a new nest …. much more like most mammalian species including humankind. ** More on this!


'anthropomorphism is strongly not recommended when observing mother nature'

 

[herb]

As for that task of thinning down the fat old queen and gambling on that girl to repopulate a new working home does not make much sense. Certainly not to the point of emptying out the nest with 50 percent of the gals and HOPING the left behind virgin queen and princesses in waiting step up to the fertilization plate.*
1. That old queen and entourage have a limited future at best.
2. The replacement queen may be eaten by a black hornet, bird or simply fail to mate because of weather. All a gamble and certainly not a winning way to expand territory or a good example of reproductive survival.* * **

I have no clue as to the why of this. The stay at home approach and let the children find their evolutionary way seems far better if you ask me.*

The common observation: "ensures lots of genetic diversity and only the strongest and fastest males get to cast their genes into the next generation." is a bit questionable if you also suggest that she will ignore the guys from her own hive. They might actually be the fastest, the closest and the most numerous.
I would argue that for the FIRST observation to be true ... she must certainly lollygag around up there and wait until Mr. Right comes along, that nice blond fella with the Italian accent. Or for the Italian queen, that dark fella.*

SEE, this frivolous post might have some legs to it. Fun to fool around with.*

That swarm with the old gal, sometimes ends dead in the water when she cannot even get but 100 feet from her former site. Best case scenario being that the frustrated scouts go out again and try to find another close home, but with a needed distance still further away. If she cannot handle that flight it is back into the nest for more fitness training until she can go the distance.*Finally, some opt to nest in a nasty but close-by branch.
None of that is very clever when it comes to expanding and better exploiting the local floral environment.**

Young queens, newly hatched would have no difficulty in flying a mile away from the hive This system makes no sense at all.*

 

[Tigger19687]

"Just for fun: Frivolous and sundry Questions about bees."
I read SUNDAY and was like , Dude What day is it? I lost a bunch of days here as I knew it was Thursday. Oh how the days roll together when you are stuck inside for over a month and obviously have not had enough coffee to be alert :lpf:

As for #3 I see it as this. The Queen Queen (old one) is RICH because they have slathered her in love and food for a long time so she DESERVES a BETTER house. Human Rich families- when the kids are all grown the Wife will say to Husband 'I want MY house now" They usually move to a Warmer climate (northerners) and a beautiful house with just enough room for a visitor (kids) to come for a short time.

#1 is funny

 

[Gray Goose]

Just for fun: Frivolous and sundry Questions about bees.

1. In the caste system bee colonies have, at what age or level are some of the less desirable jobs sorted out? These job offerings would be following the post young-ling housekeeper, nursery bee.
We have some spiffy get out of the hive jobs. The Scout, the Pollen Collector, the Nectar Collector.
But when, how and why do some become the hive undertakers and the more challenging bouncer at the gate?
After watching one bee return and having difficulty bringing in the sticky propolis I must also wonder if this is a demotion of sorts. YOU miscreant bug are now on propolis duty for the rest of your sticky life! The bees do what is needed, the "concept of cast" you have is not inline with what a hive does, read Honeybee democracy, when you get some spare time.

2. This is pure conjecture after seeing a Drone return with either some sort of leg extension or was it simply, did he return with a hard on after not finding a queen. I may be part of the problem here as I removed some potential queen cells and future happy time for him and they are situated in a rather underpopulated hive area. I doubt the local congregation bar has many other visiting queens. Herb the drones in the hive you removed Q cells from likely have 0 impact on her mating. The Queen exits the hive flys low and fast for a mile or 2, swings up and then looks for a Drone congregation area "DCA" the energy required to fly all the drones way over the horizon is too costly in "honey/energy" the cost of 1 bee making a long flight is better, and that is somewhat how they do it, this is mostly to prevent inbreeding. Seeley has documented successful matings of up to 12 Kilometers or more. I can assure you a drone coming back with what you attempt to describe, is not likely.

3. This is a Darwinian question regarding the dispersal of honey bees vs. the bumblebee.
IMO the honey bee is far more conservative when it comes to expansion … sending the mature and short flighted OLD queen to find new territory. The Bumblebee, says none of that. The queen stays in her roost and it is the young queens that must fly out to find a new nest …. much more like most mammalian species including humankind. ** More on this! IMO the queen who survives the winter is the one who should make the increase/swarm she has survived there and the hive is strong enough to make a swarm. I see on plants "proven winner" same concept. Also if the Virgin flys out then the genes do not get spread as she likely would mate when arriving with local, but what if there is not any local drones ??? hence sending out the original queen. As well this causes a re queen of the original hive good thing IMO. And there are typically many Queen cells so re queen of the old hive is almost always a success after the fight to death for the fitest virgin. BTW after swarms do often have virgins so if the need should arise for inheritance to be received at the landing zone of a swarm , this can also be accomplished. I really think if you do not compare honey bees to humans or other things your understanding would bee forwarded.



'anthropomorphism is strongly not recommended when observing mother nature'

Hi Herb, My Opinions in line
How long have you had bees?

1. That old queen and entourage have a limited future at best. has worked fine for 100,000 years..........
2. The replacement queen may be eaten by a black hornet, bird or simply fail to mate because of weather. All a gamble and certainly not a winning way to expand territory or a good example of reproductive survival. Has worked for 100,000 years.........

"if you also suggest that she will ignore the guys from her own hive" back to your human example, is a fine gals best mate choice her brother???

I like that you used the word Frivolous....................


GG

 

[herb]

Been a beekeeper since the 80's. Learned from Ormand Aebi. Am quite long toothed myself by now.

all a gamble is a good name for it and has worked for 100,000 years. Perhaps true, but for the future maybe not.

No right or wrong in a "fun post" but I do think it more likely that the queen bee having left her home probably downsized into a rest care facility or a sadder home than the one she swarmed out of. "a beautiful house with just enough room for a visitor (kids) to come for a short time." would be unlikely.

The workers of course who attend to this overworked and coming to a reproductive end do not "love" her or care about her. They exercise and starve her just to get her out of the house. Heck sometimes, they even ball a queen to get rid of her. I still think this is a poor method of expanding the territory. African Bees putting out more princess cells and swarms do a much better job than these European models.

As for genetic socializing with drones outside the home, I am sure that she gives preference to other drones with different DNA than herself. Also very interesting being that once fertilized by many she herself will do some elimination of sperms to winnow it down, but retaining a nice mix of DNA. Amazing setup that.