Washboarding

[Eyeman]

Just seen my first colony washboarding. Show up well on the link.
Bees rocking backwards and forwards on middle and rear legs whilst 'scratching' with front legs and antennae and proboscus out.
Activity is mainly on the wooden floor but also happening on the poly.


Link: https://youtu.be/_srqcFsznT0

 

[Hebeegeebee]

The only time I have seen in in my colonies is when the one colony in question had a very high mite load and the colony nearly collapsed soon after as a result.

Could you have the same problem - and as wild speculation, could the behaviour be due to viruses in the bees vectored by varroa??

 

[Eyeman]

Having just seen it for the first time I can't add to the speculative theories out there.
Will see if its still happening next week.
Not got round to assessing mite levels yet- last year I did an accelerates drop on all production colonies after a single OAV around end of May and there weren't any conies with significant mite problems so put me off bothering to check at this time of year.

 

[Beefriendly]

Having just seen it for the first time I can't add to the speculative theories out there..

It's obvious....World Cup....bee equivalent of a Mexican wave....do they have any Russian bee genes in them and wide screen hive telly

 

[user 6228]

This may interest

Taulman JF. Washboarding in Feral Honey Bees, Apis mellifera : Observations at Natural Hives. Trans Kansas Acad Sci [Internet]. 2017;120(1–2):31–8. Available from: http://www.bioone.org/doi/10.1660/062.120.0104

Abstract
Worker bees of 15-25 days old perform a stereotyped behavior around the hive entrance termed “washboarding”. While washboarding behavior is well documented in domesticated bee hives, there is still no consensus as to what its purpose is, and the behavior has not previously been reported in natural bee hives in forest settings. Many observers suggest that the bees are cleaning the surface, though no one has proposed a possible reason for the head-down, vertical body orientation typical of washboarding. I present observations of washboarding at two feral honey bee hives in cavities of dead trees in a mixed hardwood forest in Douglas County, Kansas, in summer 2016. In addition to the probable surface cleaning of the washboarding activity, I suggest that a primary function of washboarding may be to assist returning foragers in locating the nest entrance through the application of pheromones emitted from the tarsal and Nasonov glands of workers, and that the vertical head-down posture of bees may help to disperse the volatile Nasonov pheromone.

(6) Washboarding in Feral Honey Bees, Apis mellifera : Observations at Natural Hives. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/public..._Apis_mellifera_Observations_at_Natural_Hives [accessed Jul 23 2018].

 

[Eyeman]

Thanks for that Derek
Here is the same around the entrance to a poly nuc. It started suddenly after a group of bees had just finished an orientation flight. Definitley younger bees judging by the hairly thorax.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM4JXYmFJco

 

[user 6228]

Thanks for that Derek
Here is the same around the entrance to a poly nuc. It started suddenly after a group of bees had just finished an orientation flight. Definitley younger bees judging by the hairly thorax.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM4JXYmFJco

my pet theory is apis cerana : wing shimmer :: apis mellifera: washboard

but Nobody Knows

 

[badger65]

My theory is that it is to confuse wasps trying to enter the hive. My colonies started to do it when wasp arrived on the scene. Only sayin.

 

[The Poot in Somerset]

my pet theory is apis cerana : wing shimmer :: apis mellifera: washboard

but Nobody Knows

Better pass it on to HM as he lets the bees tell him...

 

[beeno]

Hi all,
I have noticed that this behaviour happens when there is a flow on and when there is a lot of pollen residue at the entrance, so I agree with the quotation from derekm's quotation from the abstract that it is to do with surface cleaning and to assist returning foragers
in locating the nest entrance through the application of pheromones.
Shimmering is defensive behaviour to ward off predators, which supposedly does not happen in European honey bees, but they do congregate as a 'flat plate' at the hive entrance and emit a hissing sound when predators like the European hornet or robbers approach and there is a lot of it here at the moment.