The Magic of the Honey Bees’ Waggle Dance and Other Communication

Some people may or may not know about the honey bees’ waggle dance. Honestly, it is not a subject that I have really dug in to research until recently. I knew that the bees did it, I knew I was a form of communication of resources. I have even seen it, but it wasn’t until someone asked me about it that I looked into it further. I knew the basics, but come to find out that there are different types of waggle dances, and I also was also reminded of other honey bee communications.

When I first started look into this subject I found that there were many types of dances that honey bees perform to communicate. First, I thought there were three, round dance, transitional dance, and waggle dance. Each of these dances are performed depending on distance the resource that they are looking for, which could be pollen and nectar, water, or a new home. The round dance is for the closest resources, while the waggle dance is for the furtherest resources. Yet, the round dance can still have mimicking behaviors of a waggle dance.

There are other communications as well. For example pheromones, the queen, and the worker bees produce pheromones which help the forgers return to the hive. Also, the pheromones are released when you are stung by a honey bee to let other bees know that you are a threat. Usually it is just one or two bees that will chase you, as a keeper of the bees you need to smoke that spot. I have been in swarm retrieval situations on my property where walking behind a bush was enough to for them to leave me alone. For a normal bystander, just walk away.

Vibrations/movement is another form of communication. It has been said that a keeper of the bees should not to knock on a hive during the winter as it may break up the cluster of honey bees that are wintering in order to explore the source of the sound. The cluster of honey bees are staying together keep warm and the sound and vibration of the will bring the bees out or break the cluster.

I have only touched the tip of the iceberg on how honey bees communicate with each other. They may be small creatures, but they never cease to amaze me and the constant learning that I get from them is priceless. Thank you for reading and bee kind.