Why do the bees glue the frames in? Are they trying to say leave us alone and stop fiddling with the frames. I don't see how the frames would move even if they didn't glue them in.
it is how they close the hive to predators, cold, etc. it is why you don't want to be popping your hive open in winter and breaking that seal.
The same reason you caulk your windows.
It's not that they are gluing in the frames, but they are filling the cracks between and around them. Just so happens that also glues them in place.
Jim
Quote from: iddee on December 06, 2010, 07:20:26 PM
The same reason you caulk your windows.
I can understand caulking the windows I can't understand caulking the furniture.
Contract with Elmer's ? :-D
Tommyt
Have you ever seen how stinkin' many bees are in that hive? No way there's that much work, so they tell the teenage bees to go glue something.
Quote from: Scadsobees on December 08, 2010, 03:32:30 PM
Have you ever seen how stinkin' many bees are in that hive? No way there's that much work, so they tell the teenage bees to go glue something.
I guess they are not like my mother because if we hung around she would tell us to go out and do something USEFUL. And she had a list! :-D
Yes, they glue stuff together. And they fill cracks and places that have no use.
But propolis is also antibacterial and probably has more health benefits than we realize. Maybe it's to deter mold growth. Maybe to keep microscopic bad things at bay. Maybe they chew on bits of it when feeling bad. ;) Could you imagine if bees only stuck it around in odd places so it would not interfer with wax comb, but yet had it readily available to eat, feed, and help with overall hive health.
Anyways, there is some interesting research being done on propolis. Seems that breeding bees for little propolis production for the past 50-100 years may be a bad thing for bees. It is there for a reason. And there could be many reasons.
If you take a unfinished piece of wood and make hive bodies with it, the bees will propolize the insides smooth with propolis. They do not like the rough cut lumber. And while we offer bees smooth woodenware most of the time, imagine the interior cavity of that rotten oak tree. I think they remove all they can of the spongy dead wood, and then propolize over the rest. I have seen the walls of feral colonies that have a very slick and shiny coating from propolis. We think that this raw wood in tree cavities would be good absorption for moisture, but bees may be doing the opposite in attempts to benefit from other unknown forces.
I do not look at propolis as a negative. I see it as a sign of hive health, and hope my bees are benefitting from their collection of the stuff.
hmm, I never did ask myself or anyone else why, it's just what they do.
Quote from: BjornBee on December 08, 2010, 04:07:45 PM
Yes, they glue stuff together. And they fill cracks and places that have no use.
But propolis is also antibacterial and probably has more health benefits than we realize. Maybe it's to deter mold growth. Maybe to keep microscopic bad things at bay. Maybe they chew on bits of it when feeling bad. ;) Could you imagine if bees only stuck it around in odd places so it would not interfer with wax comb, but yet had it readily available to eat, feed, and help with overall hive health.
Anyways, there is some interesting research being done on propolis. Seems that breeding bees for little propolis production for the past 50-100 years may be a bad thing for bees. It is there for a reason. And there could be many reasons.
If you take a unfinished piece of wood and make hive bodies with it, the bees will propolize the insides smooth with propolis. They do not like the rough cut lumber. And while we offer bees smooth woodenware most of the time, imagine the interior cavity of that rotten oak tree. I think they remove all they can of the spongy dead wood, and then propolize over the rest. I have seen the walls of feral colonies that have a very slick and shiny coating from propolis. We think that this raw wood in tree cavities would be good absorption for moisture, but bees may be doing the opposite in attempts to benefit from other unknown forces.
I do not look at propolis as a negative. I see it as a sign of hive health, and hope my bees are benefitting from their collection of the stuff.
X2, I think it just what bees do and bees have a reason for what they do even if we have yet to understand why. It is when we try to coerce them into doing what is counter to what they want to do that we have problems. I figure work with them not against them.
Quote from: BjornBee on December 08, 2010, 04:07:45 PM
Yes, they glue stuff together. And they fill cracks and places that have no use.
But propolis is also antibacterial and probably has more health benefits than we realize. Maybe it's to deter mold growth. Maybe to keep microscopic bad things at bay. Maybe they chew on bits of it when feeling bad. ;) Could you imagine if bees only stuck it around in odd places so it would not interfer with wax comb, but yet had it readily available to eat, feed, and help with overall hive health.
Anyways, there is some interesting research being done on propolis. Seems that breeding bees for little propolis production for the past 50-100 years may be a bad thing for bees. It is there for a reason. And there could be many reasons.
If you take a unfinished piece of wood and make hive bodies with it, the bees will propolize the insides smooth with propolis. They do not like the rough cut lumber. And while we offer bees smooth woodenware most of the time, imagine the interior cavity of that rotten oak tree. I think they remove all they can of the spongy dead wood, and then propolize over the rest. I have seen the walls of feral colonies that have a very slick and shiny coating from propolis. We think that this raw wood in tree cavities would be good absorption for moisture, but bees may be doing the opposite in attempts to benefit from other unknown forces.
I do not look at propolis as a negative. I see it as a sign of hive health, and hope my bees are benefitting from their collection of the stuff.
I like this answer. It makes a lot of sense.
Quote from: BjornBee on December 08, 2010, 04:07:45 PM..................imagine the interior cavity of that rotten oak tree. I think they remove all they can of the spongy dead wood, and then propolize over the rest. I have seen the walls of feral colonies that have a very slick and shiny coating from propolis. We think that this raw wood in tree cavities would be good absorption for moisture, but bees may be doing the opposite in attempts to benefit from other unknown forces.
A thought just occured to me. Could it be that the propolizing of the interior of a natural tree cavity somehow stabilizes the size of the cavity by retarding further rot and decay. At the very least by locking down all the loose matter with a "coat of plaster" if you will. To further extrapolate by stabilizing the cavity and preventing further rot is it not good for the tree itself (assuming it is still living) making bees symbiotic to trees (win/win for both). Maybe this is where the anti bacterial properties of propolis developed. Just a thought that came to me.
Keep moisture out if the hive.