Feeding Frenzy
Mid morning yesterday when we went out our front door we were alarmed by the sound of the bees. At some stage one of our nucleus boxes had dislodged from the base leaving a gap for robbing by other bees. It seemed like pandemonium, but was quickly dealt with by transferring the victim hive into a new box, much to our relief. Other times it might have been more difficult to stop.
We are going to bring down the entrances to a single bee space and keep to feeding only at night in the hope of avoiding the same panic again.
The Round Dance – There’s food nearby: Go out and hunt in the immediate vicinity
What a powerful communication the round dance is, probably responsible for all this excitement: scouts perform it in the hive and then it sends the workers out to search for food nearby. And the message is quickly passed on to neighbouring hives bringing them up to an excited flurry. It is directionless and means that they will find every other untidy mess you have left behind and any weak hives you might have.