A non-beekeeper looked through one of my hive windows and spotted something I'd
never noticed:
He put his finger right up to the window. He may have tapped it. A bee moved to
a position opposite his finger, hanging on the edge of a comb.
He commented that if he moved his finger back and forth across the glass, the
bee moved to face it, and it did so really quickly. I think it was a guarding
action: the bee was facing his finger and seemed reared up at the back, a bit.
He was right about the speed. He wiped his finger right, left a couple of
inches and the bee seemed to follow instantly. Once his finger stopped it
resumed its posture, facing his finger and with its hindsection raised
(possibly spreading alarm pheromone). It was like a dance.
I assume it stresses the bees and is unwise to repeat. But it was remarkable to
see, and illustrates how you can miss things from over-familiarity.
- - - - -
Looking through my back garden hives' windows, I can see that two hives - the
strong colonies I've had for a couple of years - have no dead bees on the
floor, which it's been suggested indicates a hive with high hygiene standards
and good anti-varroa traits. The third, which is a swarm I collected last
August has a small cluster (so much less likely to survive) and its floor is
thickly carpeted with dead bees (another bad sign). In about a month it will be
clear who's survived and whether these are strong predictors.
Paul
