strange sound!

[HensandBees]

based on the weather forecast of rain for the rest of the week I took the opportunity to peep at 2 casts collected first week in July, the first had at last got a laying queen ( still need to see if she will be a drone layer or not... saw her last week but not any eggs,) now eggs so it has taken an inordinate time to come into lay.

However the next cast has been laying for 3 weeks now and up to 9 frames of brood...., & everyone very interested in me!!!! I think is the phrase,.... .but by the time I was getting to frame 9 the noise coming out of the hive was really strange . almost like wind rustling leaves . or a running waterfall ...I decided it was extreme displeasure and closed up the hive.... but has anyone else heard this??

[Jon]

Might be wax building.
I know the sound you mean.

[HensandBees]

interesting thought . they have certainly drawn out 10 + 1/2 frames very quickly.... it was not there tho at the start of my inspection but I was concerned that they were rather over friendly . even to the point that 2 managed to find non-existing holes in my veil .... and I can confirm that being stung on the crown of your head is rather painful!

[prakel]

Might be wax building.
I know the sound you mean.

Much as I detest those "I Agree" posts elsewhere -seem like an awful waste of time to me, in this case I do "agree"!!

Pretty sure that Jon is right on the money, I've heard all sorts of explanations but there's no doubt in my mind that it's a sound which is very much associated with large scale wax construction.

I was somewhat envious when I read a post by Rosie sometime ago where he mentioned Roger Patterson's apparent ability to 'smell' a queen on a frame before seeing her because my own sense of smell is shot to pieces, but my hearing is still very good so I'm quite sure we're referring to the same sound. Just goes to show how important it is to use all of our available senses to build up a picture of what's going on.

[Jon]

Just goes to show how important it is to use all of our available senses to build up a picture of what's going on.

Totally agree again and I have no sense of smell either. (Cue the 'my dog has no nose' joke)
I can never understand those posts asking 'should i feed my bees' as the answer depends upon upon whether they have stores in the box and local foraging and weather conditions and you can't detect that via an internet forum even with an all seeing eye or a special contraption as mentioned by the beekeeper in the queen killing drones thread.

One of the best things about beekeeping is when you start to develop a gut feeling (based on available cues) for what is happening in a colony and you get a sense that you are actively managing or gaining an understanding of your colonies as opposed to always playing catch up over something you missed or failed to understand.

There is a similar sound to the one mentioned by hensandbees which is the pitter patter of bee feet on newspaper when you combine two colonies via paper.

[The Drone Ranger]

If you leave out a few dry sugar cubes in a dish and it attracts a horde of bees then you can be sure nectar is in short supply :)

[HensandBees]

thanks guys ... will add to my knowledge .....also have found the non existing hole in veil .there is more black cotton than mesh these days

[chris]

I'm not going to argue with what the sound is, as I don't know it. BUT, wax is a natural amplifier, so when there has just been, or is in progress, a lot of wax construction, it seems normal that any sound will be better heard. But is it wax construction going on that is amplified, or something else?

[prakel]

Hi Chris, I'm quite open to suggestions on this one and am always keen to improve my understanding of things even if it means throwing away long held beliefs. However, at the moment I'm here....

....To date my own observation of this sound is that it's always associated with large scale wax work -most notably when swarms are drawing out new comb very fast (and there can be considerable difference between individual swarms even though they all seem to go fast) and also when a heavy flow comes on and colonies enter supers of foundation (almost as if they've been caught out) and build out new comb, again, very fast to keep up with the flow.

All of that said, as I mentioned in my pevious post I have heard various other explanations; everything from congested bees rubbing together to infiltration by aliens (well, not quite).

Over the years there have been several threads on Beesource the common keyword they use is 'crackling'.

[Adam]

I'm not going to argue with what the sound is, as I don't know it. BUT, wax is a natural amplifier, so when there has just been, or is in progress, a lot of wax construction, it seems normal that any sound will be better heard. But is it wax construction going on that is amplified, or something else?


So, when I get hard of hearing ..... ?

[Adam]

There is a similar sound to the one mentioned by hensandbees which is the pitter patter of bee feet on newspaper when you combine two colonies via paper.

I combined two yesterday and heard the sound as you describe.

[Adam]

One of the best things about beekeeping is when you start to develop a gut feeling (based on available cues) for what is happening in a colony and you get a sense that you are actively managing or gaining an understanding of your colonies as opposed to always playing catch up over something you missed or failed to understand.



Yes, knowing the type of bee in the hive and how they behave, the weather, forage, what other hives are doing, etc. etc. does give a fair chance that you can guess what's occurring. Of course I am always surprised too!
*Maybe in 25 years I'll be surprised less often than now.
*Maybe that will be a sign of success?

[Jon]

If you are going well, the frequency of daft mistakes should decrease over time to a point where you do not feel a fool every time you look a honeybee in the eye.
Having a natural curiosity helps.
I am surprised by the number of long standing beekeepers who have never head stuff like queens piping, or seen virgin queens coming and going on orientation or mating flights. I could spend hours just looking out for things like that.

[HJBee]

I think I heard the crackling today, would not of noticed or understood if it hadn't been for this thread, so thank you!

[Trog]

If you are going well, the frequency of daft mistakes should decrease over time to a point where you do not feel a fool every time you look a honeybee in the eye.
Having a natural curiosity helps.
I am surprised by the number of long standing beekeepers who have never head stuff like queens piping, or seen virgin queens coming and going on orientation or mating flights. I could spend hours just looking out for things like that.

I think it depends on the number of colonies you're working. It took us 20 years to hear a queen piping and that only happened because we had one of many hives open at the right time. The chances of seeing/hearing interesting things increase with the number of hives managed.

As for smelling a queen, I tend to use my eyes and ears more for that; she does move differently to the workers and that's what catches my eye. However, I can pick up the scent of a swarm on a calm day!

[lindsay s]

I was lucky enough to hear queens piping at my mentor’s apiary and that was before I kept my first colony of bees. I have never heard that sound again but I do know a man who was once the Queen’s piper!

I agree with Trog that the more time you spend with your bees the better the chance you have of seeing something interesting going on. My apiary is about half a mile from my home and the only time I’m there is when the bees need attention. This year my inspections have often been carried out in poor weather not through choice but by necessity. This usually means dealing with grumpy bees and trying to keep the time the colony is disturbed down to the bare minimum. I would love to spend longer observing my bees but either the weathers against me or I don’t have the time, we are now into our 5th day of fog, low cloud and drizzle. A friend who lives in England says he can smell when a colony is getting angry it’s a pity he doesn’t visit me more often

Just recently 3 of my new queens have started laying and I was discussing when the matings would have taken place with a friend of mine. We managed to narrow it down to a few fine days about 10 days before. On one of the days in question she saw a large cloud of drones above her apiary about 9.30 in the morning. She was lucky enough to have seen the drones getting ready for mating something I have never witnessed. Basically it’s all about being in the right place at the right time.

[Jon]

That is very true about colony numbers Trog and Lindsay and with regard to piping and queen mating behaviour working with apideas gives you a big opportunity to observe queen behaviour. I have 30 apideas of my own and there are another 100 or so owned by group members. Some days after a spell of bad weather there must be a couple of dozen queens flying and mating from the same spot.

[Adam]

Having a home apiary and a fair number of colonies means that I have a better chance of witnessing 'interesting stuff' than many. If I had 2 colonies at an out apiary and I was there for 1/2 hour per week the chances of noticing anything unusual would be much less.