Personality of the hive ?

[Flygirl]

Hello All ~

Do you observe different "personalities" of your hives?  I have one that seems very mellow & tends to take a little longer to wake up in the morning.  About mid day though they really get active.
The other hive is much more active ~ early in the day & throughout.  They are both in the same location & are being fed the same way. Both seem to be progressing at about the same rate but have behaviors.

Is this a personality trait or based on the queen's presence, etc.  Both hives are Italian bees. Maybe I'm just reading too much into their behavior as I've enjoyed watching them throughout the day.

Thanks everyone! I really enjoy the board & have learned so much from all of you.  I hope I'm not wasting your time with this new~bee question.  FG

[JP]

Hey Flygirl, I think its a personality thing. The first thing I do in the morning is let my dogs out and look to my right, then dead ahead, then to my left, and to my right again, and then straight ahead.

I'm looking at my hives, to see who's flying, and its usually just like that. One on the right by the fence is always the first ones out, early morning and they also don't mind the cold.

Same for the ones straight ahead on my back patio, then I look to the left, and these gals have got to be night owls, cause they sleep in late, and so on and so on.

Yes, they have different personalities!


...JP

[Doc]

Sounds like 'personality' to me. I find this phenomenon to be one of the great joys of beekeeping. Each colony is different. Their personality might change if you requeen them, or it might not. Even weirder, a swarm that moves into an empty hive right next to the old hive might have a different personality, immediately evident in spite of the fact that they are too new a colony to have any bees that never lived in the old hive. But if you dump all the bees from an old hive into a new one, they will retain their old 'personality'. It is mysterious and lovely and amazing. It becomes even more so if you sit by the hive and mark workers with little dabs of paint on their thoraxes, to discover that some individuals are busy entrance-jostlers who move in and out rapidly with an air of impatience, and some are calm and mellow.

[Michael Bush]

>Do you observe different "personalities" of your hives?

Definitely.

[MustbeeNuts]

Hi, I just installed two packages, even at this stage there was a personality noticed. One more laid back, the other a bit more feisty. Just way more activity. One went right to work the other just kinda hung out a bit. I was surprised.  :lol: