Updates from the hives through the seasons: what the bees are up to, what the beekeeper is learning (usually the hard way), and when the next honey is ready.
The same sunflower, a different perspective. The UV photo is false color: the camera turns ultraviolet into colors we can see.
To us it’s a plain yellow sunflower. To a bee, it has a bull’s-eye. The inner half of each petal is packed with UV-absorbing pigments called flavonols, while the petal tips reflect ultraviolet light. Bees can see that contrast, and it’s thought to steer them to the center.
In spring, when the colony is growing and flowers are plentiful, a honey bee colony reproduces by swarming. The old queen and more than half the workers leave the hive together and settle nearby in a temporary cluster called a bivouac, like the one in this video. From there, scout bees fan out to search for a suitable cavity to become their new home.
Video · Behavior
Water has many uses in a honey bee colony. It’s a major component of brood food, and bees use it to dilute thick or crystallized honey before consuming it. During heat stress, water becomes essential for evaporative cooling. Returning water foragers pass their loads to house bees, who spread it in thin films over cell rims and capped brood. Other workers fan their wings to circulate air across these films, which cools the hive and helps regulate humidity, keeping the brood nest at a stable temperature.
Video · Biology
Poppies are copious producers of pollen and honey bees do not miss the opportunity to collect it. Scrabbling is the behavior a honey bee exhibits when rapidly passing over the anthers of a flower to collect pollen — a vital protein resource for a colony’s developing bees.
Video · Behavior
