Apiculture bee behavior and communication

Its deals with the honey bee behavior, their communication language, various bee dances etc.

1. APICULTURE - BEE BEHAVIOR AND COMMUNICATION Dr. S. N. Bhalerao Associate Professor Department Of Zoology Anantrao Pawar Arts, Commerce & Science College, Pirangut , Tal. Mulshi , Dist. Pune

2. BEE BEHAVIOR

3. Honeybee behavior is a phenomenon that is exhibited by the honeybees in the course of their regular activities in their colony. Some are dependent on external stimuli, whereas, others are genetically influenced. It is very important for a beekeeper to understand and utilize the bee behavior patterns for better Bee management. INTRODUCTION

4. Swarming The phenomenon of leaving off colony by the queen & other members of the colony is known as swarming. Increase in bee population causes overcrowding in the hive. Thus the worker bees rear additional queens in preparation to divide and develop other colony.  Honeybees usually swarm after flowering seasons.  A swarm consists of a queen, a large number of worker bees and a few drones. It takes place in late spring when there is plenty of food.

5. Prime Swarm & After Swarms In the prime swarm , about 60% of the worker bees leave the original hive location with the old queen. This swarm can contain thousands of bees. Secondary, after swarms may happen but are rare. After swarms are usually smaller and are accompanied by virgin queen.

6. Swarm preparation The worker bees create queen cups throughout the year. When the hive gets ready to swarm, the queen lays eggs into the queen cups. New queens are raised and the hive may swarm as soon as the queen cells are capped and before the new virgin queens emerge from their queen cells.

7. During the swarm preparation, scout bees find a nearby location for the swarm to cluster. Scout bees  are a smaller group of  bees  that hang together and “ scout ” for a new place for the swarm to move into.

8. Absconding: In this process entire colony migrates from one place to another place due to unfavorable climatic conditions or scarcity of food or destruction of comb by enemies. Supercedure : When the egg laying capacity of the old queen is lost or she suddenly dies, a new, young queen takes the position of old queen and it is called as supercedure.

9. Nuptial flight:   It is an important phase in the reproduction. During the flight, the virgin queen   mates  with male in the air. Thereafter they land to start a new colony or continue the succession of an existing hived colony. Fanning: In this process, to maintain the temperature in the hive, some worker bees fan their wings to circulate the air inside the hive. Other worker bees fan from outside the hive entrance so as to allow fresh air into the hive.

10. Guarding The bee hive is to be protected from various attackers like, insects , animals and humans. For this few worker bees between 14 to 21 days perform the job to guard the hive. The worker bees get developed stings and has venom in it. In case of danger, worker bee stings to the enemy. They also check the bees of the same colony and allow entry only to bees of same colony and restrict bees from other colony, if any.

11. BEE COMMUNICATION

12. The Honey Bee Colony A queen honey bee, few drones and thousands of worker bees live in a colony. Thus it shows social organization. The worker bees perform various in and outdoor duties of the colony like.. Collect and store food. Nurse the Larvae and the Queen. Maintain temperature of hive for community survival. C ommunicate with each other of same colony . P rotect colony from intruders.

13. Bee Communication  Effective modes communications are through various stimuli such as light, chemical and physical or by specific sensory organs.   Chemical Communication It is developed in social insects, e.g., honeybees for protection, mating and search for food. It is done by using a chemical substance called Pheromones, secreted from pharyngeal glands.  

14. Mechanical communication Touch By touching her partner’s head with the antennae for sharing food and also to trace forager bee. Sound Forager bees communicate by dancing and by peculiar sound signals for follower bees.   Optical communication This type of communication is rarely used by the honeybees since the inside of the nest is always dark.   This type of communication is used by the bees during dances.

15. Bee uses the dance language to communicate with each other and direct to the worker bees. Late Karl von Frisch, professor of Zoology, University of Munich, Germany, interpreted the meaning of dance movements of honey bees. Type of dances are : 1 . Round Dance 2. Waggle Dance 3 . Joy Dance 4. Cleaning Dance 5 . Massage Dance 6. Alarm Dance 7 . Tremble Dance 8. Shake Dance 9 . Whir Dance Bee Language and Communication

16. Round Dance

17. Bees perform this dance when food source is less than 100m from the hive. A bee runs in a small circle that covers a single cell.  She runs approximately over six adjacent cells and then suddenly reverses direction, then turns again to her original course and so on.   Between two reversals there are often one or two complete circles.

18. Dance may be completed after one or two reversals or may go on to 20 or more times then it stops abruptly. Mostly the dance resumes once or twice by the same bee at the same place or elsewhere in the nest.   Foragers tend to follow the dancing bee putting their antennae on her abdomen. A drop of nectar from dancing bee can indicate food flavour . 

19. Waggle Dance

20. This dance is generally performed when source of food is more than 100 meter away from the hive. The bee runs straight ahead for a short distance on the vertical comb surface and turns round.   It waggles her abdomen and repeats the dancing and runs another semi-circle to complete the circle in the opposite direction .   This is roughly circular dance consisting of two halves “ the figure eight”.   The straight run is emphasized by vigorous shaking of the abdomen from side to side and usually by a buzzing sound made by the flight muscle but without noticeable wing beating .   The waggle dance differs with different species .

21. Hive Food Food This dance indicates the distance to the food source direction   Direction is determined by: – straight tail waggle dance that orients the direction between the sun and the food source. Waggle D ance Sun Sun Hive

22. Joy Dance ( Dorso -Ventral-Abdominal Vibration) This dance is observed only when conditions in the hive are optimum .  A bee places its front leg on some part of the body of the other bee and make five or six shaky movement up and down. During this dance the bee slightly swings the abdomen side by side.   She crawls further and repeats the movement . Its done to celebrate the emergence of new queen.

23. Cleaning Dance Particles of dust, hairs or other foreign materials on the worker bee body stimulate the “cleaning dance”.   This consists of a rapid stamping of legs and a rhythmic swinging of the body to the sides.   At the same time, bee rapidly raises and lowers the body and cleans around the basis of the wings with middle pair of legs.  Such a shaking dance may be observed anytime in the hive. The mandibles are used to clean the thorax and the abdomen of the dancer.   As soon as the dancer feels the touch of the cleaner, it stops dancing. Purpose of this dance is  to ask another bee for a grooming.

24. Massage Dance   This dance begins when the bees feel tired and bends its head in a peculiar way. Then the neighboring bees gets excited and immediately investigate her using the antennae, mandibles and front legs, cleaning their antennae periodically.  The bee unfolds the entire tongue, extends the second pair of legs and constantly cleans the tongue with her front legs stroking it from above downwards . This phenomenon is usually observed during the cold season . The purpose of this is to request a massage.

25. Alarm Dance:   This dance is mainly performed to indicate contaminated food source and to prepare for offence and defense.   The bees run in spiral or irregular zigzag manner and vigorously shake their abdomens sideways.  Their flight activities drop completely and the neighboring bees also start to respond. Tremble Dance:  Purpose is to inform other bees that a large load of nectar has arrived in the hive for processing. In this dance, the bee walks leisurely and wiggles its legs, causing its body to quiver and tremble.

26. Shake Dance:   Purpose is to inform house bees to help the foragers to collect nectar from a particularly rich source. In this dance, the forager bees shudder in front of one house bee at a time, to notify up to 20 per minute . Whir Dance:   Purpose is to motivate the colony to leave the hive and swarm. In this dance, the bee runs in zigzags, whirs its wings and shakes its body.

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