Can Anyone Identify What My Bees Are Doing In This Picture?

nkybeekeeper · April 19, 2009, 05:13:14 AM

Last week I visited my hives. I snapped this picture. Take a look at the circular pattern. Anyone know what the bees are up to? Note, the queen was not on this frame...

Link to Picture.

WOB419 · April 19, 2009, 09:11:20 AM

1) I can't tell very well from the picture but two things that come to mind are that maybe the queen is there but not very visible because she is down in a cell and laying an egg, or maybe they are attacking an intruder (foreign bee, small hive beetle etc.).
2) What is that to the right (about an inch away) from your red circle? It is along the bottom bar? That does not look like a honey bee but maybe another bee (bumble bee or carpenter bee maybe) that came to free load on your girls, but it is not getting much attention.

mherndon · April 19, 2009, 01:54:18 PM

Bee to the right one inch looks like some of the drones I saw Friday. Some were trying to feed themselves from some of the nectar cells.

Mark

JP · April 19, 2009, 02:04:30 PM

I have never seen this before without a queen being dead center, others will hopefully chime in soon on the various possiblities of this scenario.

The bee on the bottom bar to the right looks like a drone to me also.

...JP

beemaster · April 19, 2009, 02:18:01 PM

I think it is like CLOUD FORMATIONS, you caught a random collection of bees that appear to be courting a non-existant queen. I just think it is accidental UNLESS you see it repetitively, you don't mention that, so I tend to think you saw this AFTER taking the photo, maybe or caught it as you photographed it and were at the right place at the right time.

P.S. I added your website to your SIGNATURE LINE at the BOTTOM, so it appears in EVERY POST, saving you the trouble of having to post it and is where MOST members know to look when trying to find another member's website address :)

SgtMaj · April 19, 2009, 03:47:14 PM

My thoughts were either queen being in the middle, or waggle-dance maybe.

Kathyp · April 19, 2009, 04:23:39 PM

it's hard for me to tell from the angle, but are there a couple of starts to queen cells on that frame? did you find the queen? might there be a virgin in there? the virgin queens are sometimes really hard to identify....

what you show is what i look for when i'm looking for a queen.....

Brian D. Bray · April 22, 2009, 12:24:05 AM

Quote from: nkybeekeeper on April 19, 2009, 05:13:14 AM
Last week I visited my hives. I snapped this picture. Take a look at the circular pattern. Anyone know what the bees are up to? Note, the queen was not on this frame...

Link to Picture.

The answer gentlemen/ladies, is capping brood cells. They are capping a small batch of cells that are not visible due to the bee in the center of the circle. They will take on the same formation when capping honey cells.

JP · April 22, 2009, 12:56:21 AM

Makes sense Brian. I have to say, that is a mighty cool looking picture.

...JP

Michael Bush · April 25, 2009, 03:16:13 PM

Trophallaxis (sharing food and/or pheromones). That's what they are usually doing when they form a circle like that.

johnnybigfish · April 25, 2009, 10:41:27 PM

I think that strange bug near the circle is a roach. Looks just like the ones i get in my hives!

your friend,
john

Bee Happy · April 26, 2009, 12:39:33 AM

I bet Brian is right; in my inexperience I was thinking there was another circle somewhere and they were playing a game of pollen football :roll: