Hive Orientation 1.11.15

The last couple of days the bees have been doing their orientation at about the same time. In the summer they do them separately. I don’t know why they have changed their routine.

This is my “pink” hive.

This is the Top Bar Hive. It is a long single story hive.

You can see there are a lot of bees waiting their turn. The box with the screen is a “robber screen”. Designed to keep robber bees from other hives out. The bees have an entrance on the side and at the top. Robbers tend to fly directly to the center of the screen opposite the hive entrance.

The Langstroth hives are stackable.

There are 3 holes at the top on the right end for an entrance and the bees have learned to go under the bottom of the screen. This is my “blue” hive.

There are a lot of bees still waiting for a turn.

While all the bees are filling the air the workers are still doing their job.

Here’s a closer look….several bees bringing in pollen. Those little yellow sacs on their legs. I see at least 7 just in this one little photo.

The “squirrel box” is starting to get active. We put a piece of wood over the front to help them stay warm this winter. It has about a 4” hole in it.

Here is a little video of them. Wish I could get the buzzing to go with it.

It is very interesting to see so many bees flying in the air and they are not swarming and leaving for a new home.

The orientation takes about a half an hour. These are bees that have been in the hive doing house cleaning, feeding larva and any other chores inside the hive. Once they have a new batch of bees emerge, those bees take over their duties and the others start learning where their hive is so they can become foragers.

With the hives so close I don’t know how they figure out which one is theirs…but the do.