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Subject: Orange County, NC Beekeepers

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: Rich Snover <risnover AT aol.com>
  • To: Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com>
  • Cc: "ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org" <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] question
  • Date: Mon, 24 Aug 2015 09:23:38 -0400

Thanks will do...
The entrance has been reduced halfway since honey flow stopped 

Sent from my iPhone

On Aug 23, 2015, at 6:30 PM, Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com> wrote:

Rich,

Bees fan 2 different pheromones from their hinter region. If their abdomens are pointed up but the very tip is pointed up and backward, they are exposing the sting gland and are releasing alarm pheromone. This signals a Red Alert to their nestmates, inciting them to attack/defend.

But if their abdomens are pointed up and the very tip is pointed down, revealing a white smiley face between the last and second-to-last segments, they are releasing Nasonov pheromone, a happy smell. Bees fan Nasonov pheromone to mark "home" for their nestmates. A bee that is lost will fan it; when her sisters smell it, it triggers them to fan it too. It is like someone lost in the woods calling out "Hello!" and the people in camp responding with "Hello! Hello!" Nasonov pheromone is important for forming swarms (it lets the bees know where to cluster) and can be used to mark some food sources. I don't know if robber bees abuse this mechanism by following another colony's "come home" smell to find a target.

If a hive is under constant attack, I would install an entrance reducer. The medium-sized opening shouldn't impede your hive at all as long as you have sufficient ventilation (e.g. screened bottom boards) -- you could leave it on year-round. The full-open, standard size entrance is unnecessarily/extremely large for honey bees; the medium-sized reducer opening is more along the lines of what bees prefer in the wild.

Randall




On 8/23/2015 3:29 PM, risnover--- via ocba wrote:
14f5c09bf13-34cb-daa4 AT webprd-a102.mail.aol.com" type="cite">Just curious,

I have a strong hive that is being attacked by robbers all the time (dead robbers bees out front) That I understand but this hive has workers at entrance for the last 6 week with there butts in the air fanning pheromones, that makes no sense to me. Can someone explain

Rich  


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