Hi Ann,
this makes sense. And I am a fan of "wu wei", going with the flow rather
than against it. If the bees want to build in direction XY, orient the hive
so the bars go that way, yes.
Occasionally, you can't easily reorient a hive. For example if this would
mean the beeline crosses an area with a lot of human traffic.
To support your argument: people have tried continuously rotating hives, a
few degrees a day. The bees continue to build in the same direction so you
end up with e.g. spiral combs.
Paul
On Sun, 28 Apr 2019 at 19:24, Ann Welch <ann.welch123@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi Paul and all,
Something occurred to me on the way to the forum ha ha. In fact I don't
know why this didn't occur to me sooner but hey-ho !
Just to set the scene.....I sent an e-mail a little while ago documenting
the postmortem of one of my hives. (I've attached a few of the pictures
again to illustrate). The e-mail was about one of my colonies that
absconded from a Warre due to relentless wasp attack last September and
subsequently, in the process of inspecting (postmortem) the hive, I'd found
that they'd clearly had a penchant for building comb in a north south
direction, (as does a daughter colony of this one). I'm aware Paul that at
the time I sent my e-mail you replied and pointed out that there are other
opinions on this subject that suggest other bees might choose to build
according to "other" preferences; east west, or familial etc....however....
what occurred to me, (and why I'm revisiting this idea), is that which ever
direction their preference is, it's clear that bees use "something" in
order to replicate their "chosen" direction. If that were not the case,
their comb would always be random from hive to hive and there would have
been no reason for them to have built comb in my Warre in any other
direction, other than that of their existing comb, after I'd moved
it....but they did ! (see pictures attached ....Nb; the blue arrow is
intended to indicate where the entrance was in relation to the box and
comb)..... That said....
Given that we know they use the Earths magnetic field to navigate, it
seems not so crazy to suggest that they must also use Earths magnetic field
in order to define a direction in which to build their comb, whether that
be in a north south direction or an east west or according to how their
granny built it in the hive they came from. .......
SO.... my "thoughts on the way to the forum" were,...... why don't we
simply *re*orientate a hive "with" the direction of choice of one's own
bees, once they've started building comb? IF they are starting to cross
comb,..... instead of trying to force them to build comb where ever WE
choose they should by using frames, comb guides, wax strips or aunt Joan's
washing line, WHY don't we simply reorientate the hive ITSELF ?
If we see that our bees are beginning to cross their comb, why not simply
turn the hive to align it with the bees chosen direction ? That might mean
several minor corrections as they build, in order to take account of their
start direction (usually along a straight "vertical" edge/wall) as they
move across the hive, but surely if we did this the end result "should be"
straight comb without the hassle ? (See the way the bees in my Warre
started building at right angles to the bars but not quite in a north south
direction because they were starting from the *nearest* *straight
"vertical" wall*. They then began to realign subsequent comb into a north
south direction as they moved across the hive. To me that's a clear
indication that they had a plan that didn't coincide with my plan for them
! So why do we insist they follow OUR PLAN instead of us following THEIR
PLAN?
The only Proviso I would add is that in a top bar hive, the sloping sides,
(I think), confuse matters as the bees can't build vertical comb along the
sides with slopes and so will build at one end of the hive where there is a
vertical "wall" to follow. I've seen this, but then they will swing round
to try to build in their chosen direction and hence crossing their comb....
and why wouldn't they if the hive isn't in the orientation that they
prefer?
It was certainly clear in my Warre that, after I relocated them to my out
apiary and therefore* reorientated the boxes* such that the bars NOW
aligned north south and the entrance faced due east,* the bees chose to
build their new comb* along the bars BUT *STILL in the same orientation
they'd been building it previously*, despite the fact that this meant
that their new comb was constructed at 90 degrees to their existing comb in
existing boxes. I don't think that they were at all interested in the fact
that the bars had comb guides at all, they just followed the plan they
already had in their little minds...... AND the same happened in the
daughter colony that I moved at the same time and placed along side them.
I can't ignore this evidence Paul and I will experiment in future to see
if I can replicate it. If I can and everyone else is welcome to have a go
too, (after all what is there to lose?) then that would make a massive
difference to what we already teach about siting hives wouldn't it?
Ann
