Opening a bee hive engages all of one’s senses. We very quickly learn the condition of the colony within. As soon as we remove the cover of a bee hive, we smell the aroma of beeswax and honey. An unpleasant odor may indicate a brood disease or dead, decaying bees in the hive. Of course, what we see in the hive reveals much about the condition of the colony. We notice the bees’ activity in and around the hive. We find that from hive to hive the bees vary from calm to highly agitated. Some bees remain in the frames, while others fly out in response to opening the hive. The sound of the hive changes with different colony conditions. A queen-right colony with normal activity will generate a gentle humming sound. A queen-less colony will often buzz loudly for a few seconds when the hive is first opened. The beekeeper’s sense of touch comes into play, sometimes unpleasantly. Most bees in the hive’s brood nest will allow the beekeeper to handle the frames of bees bare handed, never stinging unless a bee is accidentally mashed by the beekeeper. The bees from some colonies will punish exposed skin with effective stings. Colonies that readily sting may be queenless; they may be experiencing attacks from skunks or other predators; or they may have inherited defensive behavioral traits. Even gentle bees may sting if the weather conditions are wrong; it is late in the day; or the hive has been opened too frequently. One hive condition seems to always involve my using my sense of taste while examining the hives in the early spring. An unidentified white substance found inside the cells of honeycomb tastes sweet and pleasant; it’s crystallized aster honey from late last fall.
As we inspect the bee hive, we always examine the brood. In today’s photo of healthy brood, we see, from right to left, eggs, young larvae, older larvae, pupae in capped cells, and adult worker bees.
--Richard
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enjoyed this hive inspection. great shot capturing the progression of bee development.
ReplyDeleteNice picture. I notice the two side by side bees in the top right. Is the one on the left displaying a bit of K-wing? One bee isn't enough for conclusive proof, but just something I noticed, since you took such a nice hi-res and detailed photo.
ReplyDeleteGreat picture.. love seeing the different levels of development!
ReplyDeleteThe bee shown with its wings separated is exhibiting what is often called “K-wing.” Honey bees generally keep their wings hooked together and use their four wings as two. The K-wing condition is often a symptom of a bee that is in distress. This may be a symptom of the result of tracheal mites, Nosema disease, or some of the honey bee viral diseases. When I see bees with k-wing, I also look for bees crawling on the ground, another symptom of distressed bees. If there seems to be a significant numbers of bees showing K-wing, tracheal mites and Nosema disease are revealed with a microscopic view of dissected bees.
ReplyDelete--Richard