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Author Topic: Does anyone else's bees dance???  (Read 2460 times)

Offline PLAN-B

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Does anyone else's bees dance???
« on: April 26, 2013, 03:16:18 pm »
Went to look at a swarm I caught last month and have already grown from a 5 frame Nuc to two 8frame medium boxes. I don't use an entrance reducer being they're such a strong colony. When I reached them they had the whole entrance covered from one side to the other... Looked in last week and did not see any swarm cells... But they kept moving two steps forward and two steps back like a dance...??
« Last Edit: April 26, 2013, 03:48:28 pm by PLAN-B »
Marshall

Offline Finski

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Re: Does anyone else's bees dance???
« Reply #1 on: April 26, 2013, 03:26:32 pm »
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Today it was 9C and in the evening it gove som snow from sky.
Today I saw first blooming willow on my yard.

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Language barrier NOT included

Offline PLAN-B

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Re: Does anyone else's bees dance???
« Reply #2 on: April 26, 2013, 03:45:52 pm »
Sorry some how half my post got cut off... They seem to be moving two steps forward and then two steps back... Like a they were in a trance ... Or like they were trying to look like one big animal to warn a predator... Has anyone seen this? Do they do this before they swarm? They were not fanning like they were trying to cool off the hive or anything...
Marshall

Moots

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Re: Does anyone else's bees dance???
« Reply #3 on: April 26, 2013, 04:03:35 pm »
I'm pretty sure that dance is called the two step!  :-D :lau:

Anyway, Plan-B had sent me this video of the dance in question...

THE DANCE!

Offline Bees In Miami

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Re: Does anyone else's bees dance???
« Reply #4 on: April 26, 2013, 04:14:21 pm »
The two step... that's funny!!!   :lau:

My bees do that 'dance', too.  I always assumed they were the floor cleaners, keeping the 'front porch' clean.   ;)   :idunno:

Offline PLAN-B

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Re: Does anyone else's bees dance???
« Reply #5 on: April 26, 2013, 04:35:14 pm »
Thanks for posting the video for me Moots... Looks like trick photography when I watch it... Lol Like someone hits the rewind button and then the play button... Lol... Beesinmiami that might be just what they are doing ... Cleaning the entrance that is... Not sure though
Marshall

Moots

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Re: Does anyone else's bees dance???
« Reply #6 on: April 26, 2013, 04:46:04 pm »
Thanks for posting the video for me Moots... Looks like trick photography when I watch it... Lol Like someone hits the rewind button and then the play button... Lol... Beesinmiami that might be just what they are doing ... Cleaning the entrance that is... Not sure though

B,
Funny you should say that, I was thinking the exact same thing!   :)
It looks like about a one second video clip that's been reversed and put on a repeated loop.  :laugh:

Offline hardwood

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Re: Does anyone else's bees dance???
« Reply #7 on: April 26, 2013, 06:00:46 pm »
It's called washboarding.

Scott
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Offline PLAN-B

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Re: Does anyone else's bees dance???
« Reply #8 on: April 26, 2013, 06:36:31 pm »
And by wash boarding --- does that mean they are just cleaning up the entrance... ¿ :?  Thanks for the response Scott...
Marshall

Offline hardwood

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Re: Does anyone else's bees dance???
« Reply #9 on: April 26, 2013, 06:52:14 pm »
Nobody really knows why they do it (not that I've heard anyway) but it does seem as if they are cleaning up a bit. They will eventually wear the paint off of the woodenware. I've seen washboarding around the entrances of feral colonies as well. I haven't witnessed it inside the hives.

Scott
"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag...We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...And we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

Theodore Roosevelt 1907

Offline L Daxon

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Re: Does anyone else's bees dance???
« Reply #10 on: April 26, 2013, 07:02:04 pm »
Scott is right.  Washboarding.  Goggle "washboarding bees" and you will find lots of videos and info about it.  It is kind of fun to watch, like a chorus line going back and forth, back and forth, back and.......
linda d

Offline PLAN-B

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Re: Does anyone else's bees dance???
« Reply #11 on: April 26, 2013, 07:13:39 pm »
Thanks for the info l. Daxon and Scott... Was starting to think my bees were taking drugs...this is your bees  :bee: .... This is your bees on drugs--- buzzzzzzed...  :-D
Marshall

Offline Michael Bush

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Re: Does anyone else's bees dance???
« Reply #12 on: April 29, 2013, 11:38:39 am »
My website:  bushfarms.com/bees.htm en espanol: bushfarms.com/es_bees.htm  auf deutsche: bushfarms.com/de_bees.htm  em portugues:  bushfarms.com/pt_bees.htm
My book:  ThePracticalBeekeeper.com
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"Everything works if you let it."--James "Big Boy" Medlin

Offline PLAN-B

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Re: Does anyone else's bees dance???
« Reply #13 on: April 29, 2013, 11:03:17 pm »
It's a line dance...

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesfaqs.htm#washboarding
Thanks for the info Michael... Do have one more question if you will humor me... How long will they typically do this for? It seems I've been watching them do this for almost a week now and well past the time they would typically stop foraging or flying.... Thanks again
Marshall

Offline Michael Bush

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Re: Does anyone else's bees dance???
« Reply #14 on: April 30, 2013, 09:41:29 am »
> How long will they typically do this for?

Until they are done... it varies.  There is no point worrying about it...
My website:  bushfarms.com/bees.htm en espanol: bushfarms.com/es_bees.htm  auf deutsche: bushfarms.com/de_bees.htm  em portugues:  bushfarms.com/pt_bees.htm
My book:  ThePracticalBeekeeper.com
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"Everything works if you let it."--James "Big Boy" Medlin