First Observations as a New Beekeeper - Honeybee: Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper - page 53

WASHBOARDING
Washboarding is a somewhat mysterious behavior that occurs at the entrance of the
hive. Worker bees stand in groups with their bottoms up and their heads down. Their
four hind legs support their tiny bodies while their two front legs scrub the surface of
the wooden hive entrance. To me, they really look like they are line dancing. I've heard
they are polishing the hive by sealing up cracks in the wood, but no one has seemed to
figure out the exact meaning of this behavior.
S WARMING : T HEY'RE N OT R UNNING A WAY , A RE T HEY ?
Bee swarms are a common event in the spring when the hive population increases and
the brood nest becomes overcrowded. Although swarming honeybees may appear (and
sound) threatening,theydonotcarryhoney,pollen,oryoungbeesinneedofprotection;
therefore, they are not terribly agressive.
When a hive swarms, 30 to 70 percent of the bees leave with their original queen to
form another colony, while the remaining bees stay in the original hive and raise a new
queen. A few days before swarming, the original queen will begin to lose weight and
lay fewer eggs. The bees, noticing these changes, will begin the process of raising one
or more new queens inside what beekeepers call swarm cells . Such cells are similar to
queen cups but are often found protruding from the bottom of the frames and are often
even attached to the wood of the frame.
The swarm cells are filled with royal jelly and capped while the queen larvae de-
velop. Before the new queen emerges she will let out a high-pitched, shrilling sound
beekeepers call piping . This sound is an announcement and warning to any other new
queens,andeventotheoldqueen.Whenmorethanonequeenemergesfromtheswarm
cells they will either fight to the death, with the victor becoming the new queen, or one
of the queens will leave with a portion of the hive population in a secondary swarm.
Swarming is a disconcerting experience for the beekeeper, but once you know the
signs, it is possible tomanage it before it happens. The most obvious sign ofanupcom-
ing swarm will be the swarm cells found at the bottom of the hive frames. Beekeep-
ers regularly remove these cells with their hive tool to prevent swarming. During the
spring, beekeepers might also reverse the deep bodies to create more room in the hive
for brood rearing. The queen tends to begin laying eggs in the bottom deep and then
moveupwardtothetopdeep.Bythetimespringarrivesshehasfilledthetopdeepwith
eggs, so reversing the deeps will once again create more space for her to move into and
lay, thus limiting the feeling of overcrowding in the hive.