Episode 37 is now live! You can listen on Podbean, or on your favourite podcast player. The book review continues!
Homestead Updates
I mentioned last episode that Europa had a jaw injury. I was hoping it was a damaged tooth causing the swelling because the other option was a broken jaw. Well, it was the latter and the poor girl had to have surgery to repair it. This was a bad break too; what I thought was a tooth was actually a shard of bone sticking out. Thankfully, she is large enough for the vet to go in and insert a metal pin to hold the broken bone together. Some internal and external stitches help to hold everything in place. I was very nervous the day of her surgery because reptiles can respond oddly to anesthesia but she made it! Then, I worried she would die the first night home because that is often how it goes (you either lose them during the surgery or the night after due to the stress). Most reptiles aren’t as delicate as birds but there’s still a risk with them that often doesn’t occur with mammals. Thankfully, she’s been doing really well; taking her meds, eating a liquid diet, and seems strong and alert. Her lower jaw is very swollen and kind of bowed outward. Some of the swelling has gone down but I think her jaw might be permanently deformed. What’s frustrating is that we don’t know how this happened. I saw her the morning of the break and all was well; by that afternoon, she has this horrendous, open fracture. Usually, injuries like this are caused from fighting, a fall, or something falling on the animal but we found no signs of any of that. The vet thoroughly examined her and said there was no sign of injury and he agreed it was unlikely to have happened due to fighting as she had no scratches or contusions. Next possibility was calcium deficiency leading to bone issues such as metabolic bone disease (although, usually, that causes bones to bend and break, which doesn’t usually cause open fractures like this due to the softness of the bone). But her x-ray showed no signs of bone degradation or thinning; all looked good! So neither we nor our vet know what happened, and we can only hope it never happens again! She has a 2 week check up the day before this episode goes live. I don’t think the pin will come out based on what I’m seeing in terms of swelling but we shall see! Definitely not breeding her this year and I hope she’s not already pregnant. Girl needs to focus on her own health!!
In chicken news, I discovered that my little beakless hen, Squeak, is covered in lice. I have been so carefully checking Agatha that I forgot to check her companion so I shouldn’t really be surprised. A good dusting with diatomaceous earth helped get most of them, and I’m following up with a daily dust until they’re gone. Lice tend to be worse around the vent area (because it’s warm and harder for the chicken to reach) so while I was back there, I noticed that she has messy feathers as if suffering from diarrhea or discharge. I’m worried she has vent gleet, which is a fungal infection, although her vent looks healthy (discharge aside). Either way, I washed the area, trimmed the feathers to prevent build up, changed out their water, added a big dose of probiotics, and also offered some yoghurt with their oats for 2 days. I’ll likely keep giving the yoghurt every other day. If there’s no improvement soon, I’ll take her to my exotic vet. They must love me there! I’ve probably put at least one of their kids through school at this point.
Otherwise, hens and rooster are doing well!
Luna, my female whippet, just celebrated her 6th birthday! She has such a sweet puppy face that it's hard to believe she's 6 already. Absolutely adore this little snuggle bug and forgive her everything (including, messing in the house because she doesn't want to go out in the cold! happening less this year, though, so maybe she has matured?).
Hive Updates
Got myself a new smoker! My old one has never worked that well; it doesn't stay lit very long and has rusted really quickly. I had a chance to use the slightly different design seen above and found it much better. Can't wait to test it in the Spring!
We had a mild afternoon last week with no wind so I was able to check on all the hives. They’re still hanging in there, although all but one are right at the top by the feeder.
I put out additional sugar and winter patties, and moved some of it around closer to where the cluster was so they’d have direct access.
Surprised to find that, not only is my Sask-mother hive still alive, but they were actually alert enough to be spicy! I’m glad I wore my veil because I got pinged a few times and told in no uncertain terms to buzz off (Pun intended!)
I was beginning to suspect I might have lost one of the nucleus colonies but both are alive! Gave them both a good pile of sugar to munch on and told them to hang in there
Sadly, my Southern US colony (queen Macha) looks really weak. I thought they were dead until I saw that they were moving, just very sluggish. The cluster is a decent size but they seem very weak. I piled them up with food and moved the hive wrap so they’re getting better coverage where they are clustering. This is my only surviving queen from the 2 nucs I bought to start me on my journey so I’ll be gutted if I lose her.
My OH genetics hive (queen Cerridwen) are still low in their hive. In fact, when I opened the top of the feeder and didn’t see them, I panicked! Thought they were dead. Listened in and realised they are just low down. I added a little extra sugar just to be safe, and then hung out by them for a while. Some girls were coming out to do their cleansing flights and they looked strong. Really hoping this continues and she survives! I want to make nucs from her again.
Since the winter solstice has passed and we’re now in January, I always expect winter to be over, and it’s a bit of a kick in the teeth to realise we have a lot of it left. Getting to see the girls for a bit helped but I will likely continue to fret my way through the cold weather until the Spring!
*
Chapter 3: Dream Home for Honeybees
If I can with confidence say
That still for another day,
Or even after year,
I will be there for you, my dear,
It will be because, though small
As measured against the All,
I have been so instinctively thorough
About my crevice and my burrow.
-Robert Frost, A Drumlin Woodchuck, 1936
When honeybees search for a new nest site, no fewer than 6 distinct properties are assessed, including cavity volume, entrance height, entrance size, and the presence of comb from a previous colony
This knowledge about how bees so carefully choose their homes has only been known for the past 30 years or so
Despite humanity’s long-standing relationship with the honey bee, it has primarily been forged through our keeping of them in artificial nests in areas of our choosing, for our convenience; little thought has been given to their wild nest choices
Evidence of beekeeping can be traced back as far as 2400BC, thanks to a stone bas-relief found in Egypt that depicts people removing honeycomb from stacks of cylindrical clay hives
For approximately 4400 years, then, humans have chosen the living situation of their honeybee colonies, prioritizing ease of access, and large hives that will lead to a bountiful honey harvest and simultaneously decrease the chances of swarming
Nests of Wild Colonies
When Seeley began his PhD thesis project on the democratic house-hunting process of honeybees in 1975, he decided that a good starting point was to attempt to identify what attributes make a nest site desirable to honeybees
He realized this could be difficult to assess, as there could be multiple aspects that appeal to bees, and discovering them all would be a challenge
To start, he decided to exam colonies of honeybees in the wild; he would find trees used as a nest site, cut the trees down, and carefully examine the nest within
He reasoned that these natural sites were chosen by the bees without human interference, and therefore must have attributes appealing to them and critical to the decision-making process
In 1955, Martin Lindauer had reported experiments conducted in Munich, where he would present a swarm with a pair of nest boxes that differed in some key property as a means to determine preference
Although Lindauer was only able to conduct a few tests, he was still able to identify some attributes of nest preference, such as protection from the wind, cavity size, presence of ants, and sun exposure
Lindauer suggested that to solve the mystery of nest selection “it would be best to ask the bees themselves about this matter”. Pg.45
Seeley felt that a good way to do just that was to closely examine wild colony nest sites
Returning to the Dyce Laboratory for Honey Bee Studies at Cornell, the director of the lab, Roger (Doc) A. Morse, assisted Seeley by providing essential tools for his project, such as chainsaw, truck, etc
Morse also introduced Seeley to Herb Nelson, a member of the Entomology Department’s technical staff, who had previously worked as a logger in Maine; he would teach Seeley how to cut down the bee trees safely and securely
Back in his high school days, Seeley had discovered several bee trees in the woods by his family’s home; he started with these
He also placed an ad in the local newspaper, offering $15 or 15lbs of honey for access to any tree housing a live colony of honeybees; within a week, he had 18 additional trees (interesting side note: only 2 people took the money, the rest all wanted the honey!)
Sadly, the bees of each colony would need to be killed before the nest could be studied in detail
To do this, Seeley would go to the bee tree before sunrise (when all the bees would still be at home) and would then climb up and spoon cyanide powder into the nest entrance before plugging it shut with a rag
The cyanide powder would react to the moist environment of the nest cavity, producing cyanide gas, which would then kill all the bees (but not Seeley)
One time, Seeley accidentally dropped the can of cyanide powder and had to hold his breath, climb down, put the lid back on, and then run away from the spreading cloud of cyanide gas!! Yikes.
A silver lining to this unavoidable colony death is that it allowed Seeley to catalogue the population in detail by counting each and every bee
Once all the bees had perished, Seeley and Herb would return to the tree and cut it down; they would then cut out the section containing the nest, haul it up onto the truck, and drive it to the lab to be dissected
The section of tree containing the nest varied in size with some being as long as 6ft and as thick around as 3ft!
To measure the volume of the cavity, Seeley would first remove all the comb and then fill it with sand (converting the weight of the sand into approximate volume of cavity)
Seeley does say that he felt saddened to kill all these colonies for his study but he was also excited to be the first human to describe the natural home of the honeybees in such great detail (aka. . . science!)
Throughout the summer of 1975, Seeley and Herb collected and dissected 21 bee tree nests
Seeley also located 18 trees that they did not cut down but which he did study for information on entrance location
The first thing Seeley noticed is that bees occupied all kinds of trees, including oaks, walnuts, elms, pines, hickories, ashes, and maples; so no preference was indicated
Unsurprisingly, the shape of cavities were predominantly tall and cylindrical (‘tree shaped’)
Seeley was surprised by the size of the cavities: they were much smaller than the standard hives used by beekeepers
The average nest cavity was 20cm/8in in diameter and 150cm/60in tall with a volume of 45 liters/ 41 quarts, which is a quarter to half the size of a beekeeper’s hive (Seeley doesn’t explicitly state what he means by a ‘standard’ hive but I am assuming he is referring to a 10 frame Langstroth as they are the most common and he has mentioned using them in his other books)
Some colonies occupied cavities of just 20-30 liters but none were smaller than 12 liters
The bees made full use of the space with combs spanning from wall to wall with small passages built in the comb where they attached to the wall (allowing free movement of the bees, aka 'bee space')
Nests were organized as we are familiar with the brood in the lower region and honey stored in the upper region
Those nests that Seeley harvested in August showed good progress in honey storage; on average, they contained 14kg/30lb of honey (sadly inedible now due to cyanide!)
The entrance openings showed consistencies that indicated potential preference; most consisted of a single knothole or crack with a total area of 10-30 square-centimeters/2-5 square-inches
Entrances were typically located near the floor of the cavity, on the south side of the tree, and also close to the ground
Entrances being so close to the ground confused Seeley as these lower entrances increased the chance of predation by animals such as bears
Bears have long been a problem for honeybees; in Medieval times, in the forests of northern Europe, bears were such a pest that forest beekeepers set horrible traps for them consisting of platforms that would collapse under the weight of the bear, dropping them into a pit filled with deadly metal spikes
Later on in his studies, Seeley realised that he had fallen foul of unintentional sample bias; as the trees with nests in them were found by people, this meant that those nests that were closer to the ground were the ones being found as people are more likely to notice bee activity that is within their line of sight
This meant that the trees sampled for this particular study all had lower entrances
After Seeley became a more experienced bee hunter, he discovered that honeybees do in fact prefer nest entrances that are high above the ground
Later observations allowed him to ascertain that the the average height of the entrance is 6.5 meters/21 feet above the ground
Location, Location, Location
The dissection of nests led to some commonalities found: volume, entrance area, entrance height, etc
Now, Seeley needed to test whether these indicated scout bee preference or were merely a consequence of the tree cavities available
Seeley designed his test based on the bait hives used by beekeepers in East and South Africa; they would use hollow logs with only one entrance opening as a means of attracting swarms
Having not seen beekeepers do this in North America at the time (it’s now quite common to set swarm traps/bait hives), he realised that these bait hives could help him ascertain bee nest site preferences
Seeley would put out bait hives in groups of 2-3 with all boxes in a group being identical except for one property (volume, height, etc)
As scout bees chose from among the group, he hoped that this would indicate preference
Before launching into the full study, he started with a smaller pilot study to make sure that his premise (attracting scout bees to groups of next boxes) would work
In the summer of 1975, he built 6 nest boxes using scrap wood from the Dyce Laboratory; each boxes was 35cm/14in wide, tall, and deep with a 4.5cm/1.75in diameter entrance hole on the front side (wire was placed over the hole to keep birds out but let bees in)
Seeley took these boxes to Ellis Hollow and nailed them onto trees about 5 meters/15 feet off the ground
By late June, one of these boxes had been occupied by honeybees and, within a few weeks, 2 more boxes had been discovered by bees; the pilot study was a success!
In the summers of 1976 and 1977, Seeley set up more than 200 nest boxes in groups of 2-3 across Tompkins County; over half of these groups of boxes attracted honeybees
The boxes in each group were spaced about 10 meters/33 feet apart on similarly sized trees or powerline poles; all perfectly matched in visibility, wind exposure, etc
Each group was designed to test one nest site preference; so each group offered a box that contained properties that matched a typical nest site in nature (average volume, entrance area, etc), and 1-2 boxes that were identical except for one atypical property
For example, to test for entrance size preference (if any) pairs of cubical nest boxes that were identical except 1 had a typical entrance area of 12.5 sq-cm/2.5 sq-in, and 1 had a larger entrance area of 75 sq-cm/15 sq-in
To test cavity size, 3 identical boxes were put out; 1 with a typical cavity volume of 40 liters, and 2 had volumes at the lower and upper cavity ranges (10 liters and 100 liters)
The total number of nest boxes made was 252, using enough wood to have made a small house!
Seeley would eventually capture 124 swarms in 1976 and 1977
Swarms demonstrated preference in the following variables: entrance size, entrance direction, entrance height above ground, entrance height above the cavity floor, cavity volume, and presence of combs
Thus, bees had revealed that they preferred a nest entrance that is rather small, faces South, is high off the ground, and opens into the bottom of the cavity
This makes sense if we consider that a small entrance is more easily defendable; a high entrance is less likely to be discovered by predators (like bears); having the entrance at the bottom of the cavity is likely to help with minimizing heat loss (heat rises); and a south-facing entrance provides a warm porch for foragers
A south-facing orientation is particularly important in winter months when bees go on cleansing flights
A Canadian researcher in Alberta studied colonies living in south and north facing hives, and found that south-facing hives were less likely to be blocked by snow and ice, and were also more populous in the Spring
Seeley’s study also showed that bees avoid cavities smaller than 10 liters and greater than 100 liters, and they much preferred 40 liter cavities
Cavities with existing comb from a previous colony were preferred; this makes sense if we consider what an energy saving this offers
A typical nest in a bee tree contains about 100,000 cells, which equals 8 or so combs with a total surface area of 2.5 sq-meters/3 sq-yards; building this much comb requires 1200 grams/2.5lb of beeswax
The weight-to-weight efficiency of beeswax synthesis from sugar is at most 0.20 (or to put it another way: it takes 5lbs of sugar to make 1lb of beeswax)
Knowing this, it therefore costs 6kg of sugar or 7.5kg/16lbs of honey to make this amount of comb (approx. 8 combs)
16lb of honey is roughly ⅓ of the needed stores to survive winter; being able to store this amount of honey early on therefore offers a huge boon to the swarm and greatly increases their winter survival chances
Remember, Seeley discovered that 76% of newly established colonies die during their first winter (in Ithaca, NY); and nearly all of these colonies perished due to starvation/running out of food
This study of nest site preferences also allowed Seeley to learn what properties are of little to no concern (aka no preference) for honeybees; these include entrance shape, cavity shape, cavity draftiness, and cavity dryness
The lack of preference for these properties make sense if we consider that bees can modify a cavity to be less drafty (by caulking holes and cracks using propolis), and decrease wetness by removing wet material and applying a layer of propolis to waterproof the cavity
In contrast, bees cannot modify the volume, height, or direction of a cavity
Seeley had offered some of his bait hives with holes drilled on all side or with wet sawdust on the bottom; the bees merely caulked closed the holes and removed all the sawdust
“I was greatly impressed by the bees' tidiness.” Pg.58
My note: bees are not afraid of hard work! They do not balk at a fixer-upper (unlike me, who prefers ‘move in ready’ housing!)
Freebies
Seeley points out how sometimes curiosity-driven research leads to unexpected practical application
For example, in the late 1970s, Seeley and his wife, Robin, conducted a 10 month study of the 3 Asian honey bee species living in Thailand, which resulted in a 21 page report, and which was conducted purely due to their curiosity about these bees and their environment
A few years later, this knowledge helped with international relations.
How? It’s a slightly convoluted story but, basically, there was concern by US forces that the Soviet Union was waging chemical warfare in two countries bordering Thailand, Laos and Kampuchea, which would be a violation of the 1925 Geneva Protocol and the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention
The evidence? “Yellow rain”; small yellow spots found on vegetation at the alleged attack sites, which supposedly contained fungal toxins
Seeley came across images of this ‘yellow rain’ and realised that it appeared to be identical to honeybee feces, in size, shape, and colour
When this yellow rain was examined, it was found to contain bee hair and pollen grains, identical to bee poop
Seeley helped a professor of molecular genetics at Harvard and an expert in chemical and biological weapons prove that this ‘yellow rain’ was, in fact, bee feces
As a result, US officials stopped accusing the Soviets of chemical warfare in 1984
There was no way to ever foresee that Seeley’s research on the Asian honeybee could lead to preventing an international incident!
A less dramatic example: Seeley’s study of nest-site preferences led to him and Roger Morse translating their findings into guidelines for bait-hives that could be used by anyone looking to capture swarms
They published these guidelines in a beekeeping magazine, and the response from beekeepers was very enthusiastic
Before this, beekeepers relied on being notified of swarms resting out in the open; with bait hives, the swarms come to you!
Since this first publication, sleeker designs have been invented as well as chemical lures that mimic the attraction pheromones that scout bees release to mark a site as desirable
Justin Schmidt at the USDA Bee Research Center in Tucson, Arizona, conducted experiments that showed that scout lures in a bait hive increase the chances of catching a swarm by fivefold
Bait hives are even commercially produced now!
Seeley closes this section of the chapter by saying that, even now, he puts up half a dozen bait hives every summer because he likes free bees (and can always use a few more colonies)!
Property Assessments
In August 1974, the summer before Seeley would start his graduate studies at Harvard, he watched scout bees examining a potential nest site, and worried that his plan to study the democratic process of nest site selection might prove too large in scope for his abilities
In response to these concerns, he learned how to make an artificial swarm by shaking a colony into a cage and feeding them heavily with sugar syrup to mimic the honey-stuffed worker bees that leave with the swarm
He then prepared such a swarm and took it to his parent’s house in Ellis Hollow, where he then hung a nest box about 150 meters/500 feet away from the caged swarm
Scout bees quickly started advertising several sites until one location dominated: the nest box!
Seeley then marked some of the scout bees and followed their activity closely; he found that they would dance enthusiastically, beg for a drop of nectar from their sisters or rest for a moment, and then they would fly off again
When returning from their scouting trips, they were just as likely to go back out as they were to settle in with the rest of the swarm
At the nest box, marked scout bees would run in and the out; then they’d crawl around the entrance before going back in, or they would fly slowly around the box as if visually inspecting it
Seeley’s confidence in his area of study for his PhD thesis now grew as he realised that he could, indeed, explore how scout bees inspect a nest site
In June, 1975, he began his study on inspection behaviour of scout bees in earnest
He chose a location devoid of natural nesting sites for honeybees; Appledore Island, a rocky, wind-blown island 900 meters/0.5 miles long and about 10km/6 miles out in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of southern Maine
Appledore has no resident honeybees and no large trees for them to nest in
Seeley thought that any honeybees brought to the island would have to focus their nest site scouting on the boxes that Seeley provided, thus allowing him to observe their behaviour in controlled conditions
Seeley realised that he needed to be able to observe the bees inside the nest box as well as outside, and so he built a lightproof hut with a cube-shaped nest box mounted on one wall
The nest box was placed outside a window that was covered with a red filter so Seeley could look inside without disturbing the bees (bees cannot see red light)
On the inner surfaces of the box, Seeley drew a grid system that allowed him to accurately map a scout bee’s movements
After setting up this research hut, Seeley positioned a small swarm of some two thousand bees at the center of the island
The bees had been marked with paint dots using a colour code that made them individually identifiable, and then Seeley waited
When no bees arrived at the research hut, Seeley returned to the swarm and found scout bees enthusiastically dancing for a site away from his nest box. What had they found??
Plotting their direction, he realised they were checking out one of two lobster fisherman’s cottages on the south shore of the island
Seeley had been specifically told to stay away from these residences as the men valued their privacy
Unsure of how to proceed, Seeley sought advice from the island’s laboratory director who took him to the cottage in question to introduce him to the owner, Rodney Sullivan
Rodney saw the two men approaching and waved them in, telling them that he had a sudden emergency: hundreds of bees were going into the pipe of his woodstove!
Seeley offered to help (but did not mention why this event was happening!)
They smoked out the bees by lighting the stove and then Seeley climbed up and placed a screen over the stove pipe to prevent any returning bees from entering
With this site now inaccessible to them, the scout bees started to check out Seeley’s nest box at the research hut
Now the study was underway, and Seeley noted that a scout bee needs 13-56 minutes (average of 37) to fully inspect a prospective site
This inspection involves 10-30 journeys inside the cavity, each taking less than a minute, alternated with brief examinations of the exterior
Seeley calls the first inspection, when the bee pops in and out of the cavity, the discovery inspection
If the site is deemed desirable, the scout bee will waggle dance back at the swarm cluster and make repeated visits at approximately 30 minute intervals; these subsequent visits usually last just 10-20 minutes (average of 13) and don’t involve as much in and out activity
During her discovery inspection, the scout spends about 75% of her time rapidly walking across the inner surfaces of the cavity
This quick pacing is interspersed with short pauses to rest, groom, and release attraction pheromones, as well as short and hopping flights
These little flights last less than a minute, and include traversing the walls, floor, and ceiling
Early in the discovery inspection, scout bees walk primarily near the entrance, going deeper into the cavity later
When this inspection has finished, the scout has walked 60 meters or 200 feet (or more!), and covered all the inner surfaces
Seeley spent a total of 4 weeks on Appledore Island in 1975 to gather this data, and although he had not solved the mystery of how scout bees evaluate potential nest sites, he did feel that he had made progress towards a better understanding of the process
Returning to the island in July 1976, Seeley focused on attempting to discover how scout bees measure the size of the nest cavity, as cavity volume is perhaps the most critical aspect of a colony’s long term survival
A cavity with 10 liters or less does not provide sufficient space to store the honey needed for winter and so bees avoid these spaces, which made Seeley surmise that bees must have some mechanism to measure the space
He identified two potential methods of measurement: the extensive walking around on the inner surfaces he had previously observed, and a visual inspection of the space
Seeley tested both by setting up nest boxes with varying amounts of interior light and traversable surface area (by creating inner surfaces that bees could not walk on due to lack of traction)
The result: bees need interior light greater than 0.5 lux (comparable to the light of a full moon) OR fully traversable inner surfaces
To test which method (visual inspection or walking) was used more by the bees, Seeley used a light meter on previously collected nest cavities; he found that the illumination inside these nests was less than 0.5 lux except for near the entrance, meaning scout bees could not rely on a visual inspection
This means that the walking on inner surfaces is the primary method of measurement
To dig into this deeper, Seeley attempted to alter scout bees’ perception of cavity volume by manipulating the amount of walking required
To do this, he built a little bee treadmill! “A cylindrical nest box mounted vertically on a turntable that enabled me to rotate the box smoothly while a scout bee was inside.” Pg.69
By tracking the bee’s movement inside, Seeley was able to modify how far she walked by turning either in the same direction she faced (making her walking time seem shorter) or in the opposite direction (making her walk longer)
The only light entering the nest box came from the entrance, which likely acted as a reference point for the bee
The volume of this box was 14 liters, not too small (<10 liters) but also not especially large; a scout bee should therefore find it more or less desirable depending on whether she had walked more or less than its true volume dictated
How to assess whether she found the cavity desirable? By counting how many other bees she recruited to inspect the space
In 4 trials of this experiment, Seeley found that 7-9 recruits arrived in 90 minutes when the initial scout bee walked a lot, while 0-1 recruits arrived in 90 minutes if she walked just a little
The bees taking long walks therefore found the box suitably large
“It seems clear, therefore, that a scout’s estimate of the volume of a cavity is proportional to the amount of walking she must do to circumnavigate it. Every step is a measurement.” Pg. 71
Nigel R. Franks and Anna Dornhaus, biologists at the University of Bristol, England, (my alma mater!) and the University of Arizona, have proposed that a physics principle might apply here: physicists have long known that, for any open space, the mean free path length (MFPL) of wall-to-wall lines drawn in all directions across the space is equal to 4 times the volume (V) of the space divided by its internal surface area : (A): MFPL = 4V/A
Thus, volume is proportional to mean free path length multiplied by internal surface area: V = (MFPL x A)/4
Knowing this, Franks and Dornhaus suggested that if the walking of bees provides the internal surface area, perhaps the short, hopping flights observed are a way for the bee to see how far they can fly before hitting the wall, which potentially means they are estimating the mean free path length
Franks and Dornhaus proposed an experiment to test this theory, which would involve hanging a rigid curtain across much of the interior of a nest box, and coating the curtain with a substance that the bees cannot walk on
The curtain would drastically shorten the mean free path length of flights but would not change the volume of the walkable surface area
If the bees behave as if the space has decreased in size, this would indicate that MFPL flights do function as a system of measurement for the scout bees
At the time of publication, Seeley states that he hopes the test will be performed soon
Curious, I looked up both scientists’ publication lists and could not find a paper on the subject (although both have a number of publications on honeybee scouts, including some with Seeley as a coauthor)
It is possible the study never came to be due to time or funding constraints but it’s equally possible that it was just never picked up for publication; academic publishing is often complicated and competitive, and it can be hard to find the right publisher for a niche or smaller-scale research paper
And that’s it for this chapter!
Thank you so much for listening, and I hope you’re enjoying this book review. Please join me in two weeks for Chapter 4! In the meantime, feel free to reach out to me on Instagram or via email at homesteadhensandhoney@gmail.com
Until next time, you'll find me snuggling with my birthday girl and avoiding the snow! Stay warm out there. <3