Nature is amazing. So much going on everywhere, all the time, at such a neat, organic pace.
I woke up this morning with the intent of trying a stupid experiment before getting to work on other things. Typically, a scout bee needs to find a hive/hivebox in order to draw the rest of the hive/swarm to the new “residence.”
When honeybees are swarming (splitting off from their current hive and searching for a new home), they load up on honey, ball up around the old queen, and leave the old hive. When the swarm is balled up and resting on a tree or other such location, scouts go out to search for potential homes.
If a scout finds a nice place to live, the bee returns to the group and does a special “dance.” This dance signals others to go check out the new potential digs. If these bees also like the location, they’ll come back and do the same “dance,” lending credence to the first scout’s initial funky moves.
Various other scouts will “dance” and advertise their newly found, promising, respective spots. Ultimately, the location with the most “dancers” backing it wins out. It’s a truly decentralized decision making process, which is pretty damn cool!
My stupid experiment.
Back to the story. I woke up and decided to catch a “scout” Japanese honeybee on my own, and place it inside my newly created hive box. I call this stupid because forcing a family into a home and locking them in for five minutes, when they aren’t even in the market, and hoping they stay because they like the honey on the walls, isn’t the most natural way to do things. It’s a bit...forced, isn’t it?
That said, when I finally got my little glass jar up to the entrance, the bee went directly inside after smelling the honey. Before I had added the extra dollop, the poor soul was struggling like hell to get away. One whiff of the new honey, however, and in she went.
The bee exited the top of the hive momentarily (I need to fix the roof ><), and buzzed away.
I have no idea if this bee will report anything back to her friends, or if the plentiful honey inside the hive box will be noted for later reference, but hey, I had a great day in the sun, learning a lot.
There are so many varieties of bees! I caught a few that were entirely the wrong bee. I learned to identify the different buzzes, shapes, and colors of the various types to some extent today. I also got to witness all kinds of other cool critters going about their daily business as well.
So yeah, we’ll see what transpires. Even if nothing does, I learned a lot and had a relaxing day. Don’t be afraid to try a few “stupid” ideas now and then. If you have a passion to do something, it means there’s a reason for it, for you!
Peace!
~KafkA
Graham Smith is a Voluntaryist activist, creator, and peaceful parent residing in Niigata City, Japan. Graham runs the "Voluntary Japan" online initiative with a presence here on Steem, as well as DLive and Twitter. (Hit me up so I can stop talking about myself in the third person!)
Now that I'm out in the middle of the swamp, I'd like to start an apiary. I'm in the research process now so I found this to be a helpful post. Let me know how it works out.
Thanks. Will do. And you should! That’d be great.
Still beeING around, hehe. Been stung yet?
He he. No, not yet. Was running around in shorts today surrounded by bees and hornets which is probably not such a wise clothing choice.
Hey, you won that contest, by the way!
Can you send me a mailing address on Steem Chat so I can get the prize sent out to you?
Haha, cause I was the only one participating right? They are bees not the assholes, wasps are the real assholes.
Bees I tend to stand between them at the sugar drink vendor, about a 100 fly around you, they don't do anything.
Yes sir Nature is amazing | i believe this
by the way thank you for share stupid experiment..................... :p
:)
Yeah many time bee leave their place and you know bee after changing 3 places settle in living place.
@kafkarnachy84, at times it's inside an attempt to doing some stupid thing that you get some new discovery which can shoot you to the world, but it's an expensive joke trying such, it's only genius that does that.
bees are very good especially when you get it's oil, it's very healthy.
Haha. Yes, wasted time is no good, but sometimes the discovery pays off. And the knowledge always does!
Cheers brother.
Thank you so much @kafkanarchy84 for share your stupid experiment with us...
wow so cool place you living friend
Thanks!
AWEsome. ... .^^.
amazing video
that awesome video...
awesome photography. I hope you will be very enjoy
@polash66129 - You may not realize that "awesome photo","awesome photography" is considered to be spam, you used 40 similar phrases in your last 100 comments, I've replied to you 4 times before, and the Steem Sincerity API shows a 61.30% spam score. Learn why this is spam and a few better ways to earn the support of the community when commenting.
@kafkanarchy84 - You can remove this comment and everyone can whitelist me from appearing in future posts.
Excellent experiment!
I'll think I'll go find me a swarm...
Doing 'stupid' things is a great way to learn . (and have a nice time to boot!)
if you are not willing to impose your will on bees to some extent then you ain't going to get no honey. Remember though, if the bees don't like your hive then they will leave. So in that way it is a voluntary relationship. I guess the trick is to find a swarm (that does not belong to another beekeeper who is looking for it) and shaking the limb it is on into your hive so that the queen falls in. Or just buy bees.
I'll be interested to know if your plan works. I started a bee club in work a couple of years ago and we checked the hives only recently to make sure there weren't too many Queen cells in the hope it would lessen the chances of a swarm.
We did have one last year that was hanging off the branch of a tree and we managed to remove it intact and transfer it to a members newly bought hive.
Bees are truly amazing creatures and I am constantly learning something new each time I visit the hives.
Great work !