ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject:
Orange County, NC Beekeepers
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- 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
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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