Sometimes you can know the bee situation by looking at the beehive outside, which reduces the trouble of unpacking inspection. The advantage is to reduce the number of bee searches, try to avoid disturbing the everyday life of bees, and improve the work efficiency of beekeepers. So how do we know whether bees are healthy by observing out of the hive?
These are what bees in a healthy situation do:
- The worker bees bring in pollen as soon as they build a few wax combs.
- The wax comb is strong and steady.
- Bees move in a stable, purposeful way out and into the beehive.
- There is a busy activity from returning bees and hive detritus.
- The sound of the hive is a smooth and steady hum.
These are what you may see and hear if your hive is an unhealthy state, and about the reasons:
- Worker bees have significantly reduced the number of times they go out to collect. If they slow down, you should pay attention to them. Many bees lie down when they come out in front of the hive. Moreover, bee whiskers may be a sign of escaping.
- Few bees are lying in front of the hive, and there are no bee whiskers. That is, the bees have escaped. Many worker bees will also appear as drones running out of the hive and circling over the bee farm. Pay special attention to the old-queen bee colony. A queen stage or a new queen out of the cell signals bees to escape.
- When bees become particularly ferocious, prefer stinging, fly indiscriminately, have gray wings, have dead bees at the entrance, and are crawling on the ground, it should be pesticide poisoning.
- In early spring and late autumn, when there is no honey flower source, several bees fly around the cracks around the hive and make a strange sound, which is that this swarm of bees may have been stolen. If the bees at the hive entrance are in a mess, tearing and making a fuss, it is the symbol of being stolen bees. If the tearing is not severe, many honey-sucking bees scramble out of the hive entrance and fly away, indicating that this colony has been stolen.
- The sick bee had curly wings and could not fly; they crawled outside the hive and ran around to die. The reason is improper temperature control in the nest.
Beekeeping is a career that requires careful study. Glorious Future Beekeeping provides you with more beekeeping knowledge, and we also offer the sales and export of beekeeping supplies.