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I've been keeping this blog for all of my beekeeping years and I am beginning my 19th year of beekeeping in April 2024. Now there are more than 1300 posts on this blog. Please use the search bar below to search the blog for other posts on a subject in which you are interested. You can also click on the "label" at the end of a post and all posts with that label will show up. At the very bottom of this page is a list of all the labels I've used.

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I began this blog to chronicle my beekeeping experiences. I have read lots of beekeeping books, but nothing takes the place of either hands-on experience with an experienced beekeeper or good pictures of the process. I want people to have a clearer picture of what to expect in their beekeeping so I post pictures and write about my beekeeping saga here.Master Beekeeper Enjoy with me as I learn and grow as a beekeeper.

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Thursday, August 27, 2009

Circle Dancing and Festooning at the Bee Tree



In the hot summer in a hive box, the bees gather outside on the landing and do the washboard dance.


AI Root in the ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture says that while the dance looks like the bees are scrubbing and scraping the landing of the hive, there's no evidence that they are doing anything other than exercising.

The bees at the bee tree are washboarding all around the knothole opening. Inside the opening as you can see in the picture above and below, they also appear to be hanging onto each other in a sort of acrobatic festooning in the center of the hole.

In an August day in Atlanta (this was 8 AM) it must be awfully hot inside the tree cavity.



When I climbed the ladder and opened the hive box, there were more bees than usual in the box and on top of the frames. I think they are getting invested in hive box ownership! Or at least I am hoping that they are.

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1 comment:

  1. Anonymous3:34 PM

    Hey Linda! Looks like the bee tree is doing well. I read about the stings. OUCH! I'm a firm believer that bees get used to the keeper as time goes by, and these girls have been on their own for so long, in the tree, they're a little defensive, but I bet they'll tone down some pretty soon. About the washboarding, I've never seen it, but read about it before, and like a lot of other curiosities in bee behavior, its just one of those things they understand...but we don't. Maybe it is a form of bee aerobics? Maybe the colony was doing their Denise Austin workout? :)

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