Beekeeping Tips: The Psychology of Honeybees

Do you love honey and are you considering starting a honeybee colony? Or, have you already built a hive and want ideas on how the buggers think? Either way, understanding honeybee psychology is essential. The following tips - gleaned during coursework for a degree in entomology, and while owning a hive - might help.

Bees exist for the colony. TV shows about an alien collective (e.g., the Borg in "Star Trek: The Next Generation") aren't totally driven by imagination. They're based on the hive mentality exhibited by honeybees. Every honeybee lives to support the colony - they can't survive alone. The queen lays eggs tirelessly, keeping the hive populated. Worker bees live six short weeks in the summer - without sick days or paid vacation - gathering nectar, making honey, and caring for the hive. Because honeybees don't have retractable stingers, they defend the colony by sacrificing their lives. "Generally the bee pulls herself away, leaving the venom pouch and sting in the invader; the worker soon dies because of the abdominal rupture. Thus stinging for honeybees [sic] is an act of self-sacrifice." ("The Biology of the Honey Bee, Apis Mellifera.")

Bees love nice days. Like people, bees are affected by weather. Think back to a cloudy day, when you almost felt grouchy enough to fire an AK-47 into the ceiling while shouting, "Leave me alone!" Bees feel the same way - only their AK-47s are in their little butts, and they're quick at using them. Therefore, work with your colonies on sunny days, when they're happy.

Bees don't like erratic movement. When handling a hive, it's easy to thrash about like a bear in a briar patch. Don't. Erratic movement and the resulting vibrations may cause an attack. Professional apiarists work quickly but use controlled movements. I knew a beekeeper who handled hives for 20 years, yet he still approached them with control.

Bees are not pets. You'll hear stories about a swarm landing in someone's purse/outhouse/underwear, and how those honeybees became pets. Don't believe it! Yes, you can stroke their backs (tricky, but doable), however, they'll never return that affection. You can also tie dental floss to a drone (male bee, no stinger) and take him on a fly-about. However, when the line is removed, he won't jump in the pickup and go home with you.

Honeybees merely tolerate a relationship with humans and it requires protection on our part. In the least, that means a veil, smoker, hive tool, and clothing that protects extremities.

Bees have fascinated mankind, and inspired writers such as Emily Dickinson, Arthur Guiterman, and C.B. Langston to wax poetic. My favorite, however, is by an unknown author.

"The bee is such a busy soul,
She has no time for birth control,
And that is why in days like these
We have so many sons of bees."

To recap ... whether you're just thinking about keeping bees, or are a beginning apiarist, keep a honeybee's nature in mind. Bees protect the hive at all cost, love sunny days, don't like erratic movements, and aren't pets.

In the end, however, attentive efforts by you will reap a supply of golden honey from them.

Sources
"Honey Bees," National Biological Information Infrastructure.
John Hobbs, "Getting Started in Beekeeping," University of Missouri Extension.
"Pollinating Insects - Biology, Management and Systematics," USDA.

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