sorry, i get carried away… sigh
2 Likes
I truly appreciated it!
Keep going please!
A few years ago I took a photo of a sign that I found interesting. It might even fit the thread “Only in Switzerland”.
The text in English (google-translated):
"Dear Hikers
Since targeted mating with bees is not as easy as with cows, there are topographically isolated locations like this where purebred mating is possible. We ask you not to enter the area between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. This could hinder a returning queen.
We thank you for your consideration.
The Hinterrheintal Beekeepers’ Association"
3 Likes
I read somewhere that unlike birds and aircraft where air above the wing is faster than under it, BB‘s fly more like helicopters.
This is a really enjoyable thread, I have learnt so much, but this notice… “Rassenreine Paarung” sounds like a Nazi concern. I found lots of information on the interaction of honeybees and wild bee populations
and, as you would expect, evidence that the bees go in for a bit of non Rassenrein hanky panky:
1 Like
@TinyK this is a veeery interesting (and controversial) post… 
… first of all, bees mate at a height of 6 - 7 m, and, in areas which are difficult to spot to humans (unless you have the queen bee (or some drones) tagged with RFID. The drones find the queen thanks to the trail of pheromone that she leaves behind. It is true that, for some reason the ‘mating areas’ hold year on year, but at that height, difficult for humans to even notice it…unless one of the drop-dead-happy drones falls on you after successful intercourse with the Queen bee (you know it, no? the male dies in éxtasis…leaving his gonads inside the female’s body. More on that, later 
yes, be afraid, be very afraid! there are some beekeepers associations where members should buy their queens only through these ‘controlled’ breeders, in an attempt to maintain a pure Swiss bee breed. The ‘pure’ Swiss breed is a small, black bee (looks almost like a fly), which is calmer than some other bees, and produces less honey. (For those interested, in Europe, in addition to the swiss race, there are italian, carneolan (=slovenian), russian, iberian, buckfast (=bastards, i.e. mixed), and africanized bees – among others. There are also honeybees without stinger (in south america), and japanese bees (who have different behaviour than european ones). And even if they seem the same, all of them look very different, like human races do.
Personally, I think that indeed this inbreeding damages the genetics and survival prospects on the long run - I hope you guys agree that any type of forced endogamy is contra-natura.
@KiwiSteve, @TinyK in any case, the breeders hope for the best. The Queens do not behave really like a shy virgin when they take off from the hive. They are on a mission. And the mission is to mate with between 15 - 20 (give or take) drones, in the 2 or 3 flights (one per day) that they make. That will be the first and last time that they leave the colony (except for swarming), so let the girls have fun! Why that sudden ninfomanic behavior? That, on the next chapter!!
Yet, meanwhile, what happens to drones when they manage to mate! (there are >1000 drones / Queen bee on average). I think that one image is worth one thousand words… You can see it here Virgin queen bee fly to mate with drone| bees mating|young virgin queen bee mating (bumble bees mate on land, not flying!)
Mesmerizing, isn’t it?
2 Likes
Sheeesh! What do you call a bee orgy then?
A Borgy, a beebang, a stingerring?
1 Like
Thanks. Now I know that, which my mum did not tell me when I was a kid, what about the birds?
2 Likes
These little gems are all over the grape hyacinths now. The dark-edged bee-fly looks at first glance like a bee, but its flight/hover pattern is very different. The are so fuzzy and cute, but unfortunately a foe to the solitary bees that are so prevalent here.
oh man…where should I start … but, there is still more to the bee truculent stories! fratricide, eugenesis, magnicide, gender-cide (this last one I don’t know if it exists..)
I come here everyday to check whether you already posted one of the stories mentioned above.
Oh, BEEEEES! Just skim read this and thought you were talking about the British royal family.
1 Like
ok, ok! sooooo. Game of Thrones part I: the Queenmother (so we please also @Slammer ) leaves with half of the court to the new dwelling, leaving behind the other half of the court (the youngest bees), to serve and nurture the pupii and the future queen. And she leaves behind several queen-bee cells, which will be born usually in 6 - 7 days. But there are several cells, and there can be only one queen!. When the Queens are being born, they peep – a ‘call’ that is clearly audible in the whole beehive. As the first Queen is born, after 3 - 4 minutes, during which she is attended by bees, to ‘dry herself’, she starts scouting the brood chamber, looking for other queen cells. And when she finds one, she stings the stillborn to death through the wax of the cell. If she encounters another Queen, because she missed the cell, they will wrestle, like in the WWE, until the strongest kills the other queenbee. So much for sisterhood!
So, even if the queen mother has left behind various ‘princesses’, only one will become the Queen, and the others will be mercilessly stung to death. Wait, where have I seen that before? ah yes… some royal families…
4 Likes
and, for TinyK, the posting of the day, on oddities of bees and nature… did you that a honeybee colony is the ultimate matriarchy?
- There is no King, the Queen rules alone.
- In spring, the Queen lays two types of eggs; diploid (egg+sperm) for female bees (working or princesses), and haploid (egg alone), for drones (=males).
- In summer & autumn the Queen lays only diploid eggs, i.e. she only bores female bees
- at the end of autumn (measured by the equinox) the female bees start kicking out (physically) the drones from the colonies; for about 6 months, the colony is formed only by female bees.
- the drones have one function – reproduction. They do not take any responsibility at the hive; they are 3 times bigger than the females (the females need to build special cells for them!), but they cannot defend the hive, because they don’t have a stinger. They cannot feed themselves – i.e. they cannot collect nectar, (because of the structure of their stomach), they can only eat honey provided by female bees. And definitely, they don’t take care of the household chores
In spanish, the term ‘Zangano’ (=drone) is also applied to men who are house-useless - The life of the drones, (up to 6 months) can be much longer than the one of the female bees (spring /summer bees: 6 weeks)…if the drone is NOT successful on their main goal: impregnate a queen on her honeymoon flight. If he is successful…well, then he will die on extasis (see video on previous posting)
and…to prove that this is Game of Thrones…
Drones have a mother and a grandfather. But they don’t have a father. How cool is that!
and tomorrow…more on game of thrones – incest and the likes…What happens if the Queen is impregnated by a drone made by her own mother?
4 Likes
Holy moley, Disney‘s Bee Movie got a dark twist.
1 Like
In Russian and Ukrainian the word used for drone in the bee family in a figurative meaning means a lazy person who lives off someone else. I’m surprised that it is called a drone in English, because in the other meanings drones are very useful.
1 Like
I forgot to mention. Bees make great weather anchormen. They don’t (generally) swarm if there’s rain coming…
2 Likes
Not as reliable as swallows who fly low because - even more reliable if you’re able to spot them as they make the first move - they are after the moskitos.
Actually I used to rely often on the behaviour of swallows as a kid.
Lovely to see, my dad used to be a beekeeper and he did al lot of swarm pickups with the fire dep. Nature at its finest!!! If you are allergic to bee stings, just keep away. make sure you have some precautions, EPiPen, etc. If you spot them just call the authorities, they know the local beekepers who would be happy to add another hive to the portfolio…
1 Like