"A-Z" INDEX & SEARCH

Behaviour of Honey Bees

The various behaviours, some of which are listed on the record card systems are listed in the left hand column. (A few of these pages are recent additions and may have little content as yet)

Bees are social insects and are successful because the behaviour of each individual bee is in concert with her sisters, but the behaviour of groups of individuals is also complimentary.

Observation is the key to recognising behaviours. This may be done with sophisticated observation hives (future link) or by making observations whilst conducting your routine beekeeping. The activity (future link) that can be seen on the alighting board (future link) can be very revealing.

Providing that you are an objective observer and do not allow your conclusions to just fall in line with what you may have read about or been taught by others.

Do not be afraid to challenge established thoughts and opinions, it is by constantly re-appraising what we see that our knowledge is advanced.

I am not really sure whether drifting is a 'behaviour' or a 'characteristic', but I have tagged it onto this menu.

I have also included some notes on the length of the bees working day. Long foraging hours are associated with longevity, this manifests itself both in the number of days a worker may live and work and in the number of years that a queen may live for.

This catalogue of behavioural characteristics keeps on growing... one thing that I am looking into with the thought of adding yet another page is... The tolerance of a colony for multiple queens. Which is strongly linked with supercedure.

Written... 18 January 2002, Revised... 20 August 2002, Revised... 28 November 2003,