Posted on 03/17/2010 9:43:10 PM PDT by fishhound
The secret of honey bees' success has been discovered living deep inside their hives - a special type of bee which acts like a living radiator, warming the nest and controlling the colony's complex social structure.
The "heater bees" have been found to play a crucial, and previously unappreciated, role in the survival of honey bee colonies.
Using new technology that allows sceintists to see the temperature inside the bee hives, researchers have been able to see how heater bees use their own bodies to provide a unique form of central heating within a hive.
They have found that these specialised bees, whose body temperatures are considerably higher than other bees in the colony, not only keep the hive warm but also control the social make-up within a colony.
Bees, and other social insects such as ants, share jobs within a colony so each individual has specific role that benefits the colony as a whole.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
BTTT
Might work in a hive, but their elected representatives are about to be voted out on their asses! Ha.
That’s the latest buzz.
Like to tie and glue that to a fishhook. lol
They sting you enough and your face FALLS OFF. Supposedly they kill people every year in Japan. I saw a special on AP or NG or discovery, this old woman watched her husband’s face slaugh off after he was attacked.
The special said the J. honey bees killed the hornet by heat, wikipedia says carbon dioxide might also be a factor along with heat.
Freegards
I am sure the bee in the picture posted would keep most males temperatures up.
What do these heater bees do in the summer, live outside the hive? Maybe they have AC bees that keep the place cool in hot weather, huh?
Dear Santa...
No- It`s John Belushi.
Here in TX, since we got the killer bees twenty years or so
ago, it’s been proven that they are triggered by exhaled carbon dioxide.
And they attack the eyes first.
We have sad stories of guys bobcatting down the wrong tree
during construction and dying in the resultant swarm.
Oh, wouldn’t the left love to run our society like this.
LOL
Nice article.
Maybe they do. More likely is that they don't run full blast until they settle into the chamber.
Breeding hives based on lack of 'open' chambers seems to have been counterproductive. It would seem they were always there for a reason.
FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Proof-positive that AGW is really Apiarogenic Global Warrming; NOT Anthropogenic Global Warming!
Now, if this isn’t exactly the bee’s knees, it is still a honey of a story for us gardening types, who depend upon these gals to do their jobs effectively.
I too thought of colony collapse disorder, but my thought was that perhaps breeders have been breeding for queens who would not leave enough empty cells for the heater bees to do their job. If one HB in an empty cell can warm 70 larvae, then about one empty cell per 70 would appear to be essential. Have you counted the empty cells in your combs? Did you get your bees from a large commercial enterprise where selective breeding may be a problem, or did you get them from a local hobbiest or a wild swarm? Also do you just feed them sugar water, or do you leave enough honey for them to eat?
Another interesting observation. I had read that young bees were the nursemaid bees and as they matured they worked as honey gathering bees. According to this article each is specialized for the specific job according to the brood temperature.
How do they know how many of what type of bee to create? Is it seasonal maybe?
I imagine extreme temperature variations are hard on bees. Perhaps you could buy some of that 2 inch thick hard foam insulation and build boxes with a few small openings to put over the hives when the weather goes extreme. I think the 2 inch ones are R13
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