ENVS 2210 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Worker Bee
11 Jan 2018
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What are worker bees doing at this time? extreme crowding, sometimes with bees clustered outside the nest. Many worker bees become inactive, hanging from each other inside the nest these are probably the bees that will leave with the swarm. When ready to leave in the swarm (rarely before there are 1 or more. Within minutes, thousands of bees (40-60% of total) rush out of the nest sealed queen cells), bees begin to race wildly through the colony; Schwirrlauf or buzzing run" entrance as thousands of bees fly slowly in the area near the nest, some workers begin to cluster on trees, etc. Workers control the swarming process, not the queen. Pheromone duet" - workers attract other workers and the queen with. Most workers in a swarm are inactive a few workers forage for nectar (to replenish what honey is metabolized by swarm bees) scout bees:
