August

 

In August we continue the work we started in July – we still feed the bees with sirup but with small amount. We need keep the bees working and feeding their queen with royal jelly. In other way she can stop laying eggs what could be catastrophic for the bee colony later. Now the queen produce the eggs which will develop in to the overwintering bees. Therefor remember to give to the queen enough place to brooding. Late August and September is adequate time to think about queen replacement(requeening) especially if we have aggressive bees. Keep environment clean don’t put any sweetness outside especially the sirup. Bees can start robbing it and later them selfs. It’s mean they can attack week bee colonies and robbing them. Many bees loos their life and colonies are weaker when winter is coming.

 

Aggresive behavior in bees

Pic.1 A plundering bee that was attacked by a guard. Bee at 5 o’ clock and old black hairless plundering bee. As a result of old age, squeezing past other bees and fighting, as well as combing by other guard bees, the plundering bees often lose their hair. Attending to bees requires acting with due caution because one of bee’s virus diseases causes blackening of cuticle/ epidermis or hair loss. Bee families as a whole, as well as every single worker bee, are able to fend off any potential aggressor. Who or what would the bees consider as a threat depends on the genetic profile of the bee family and the probability of occurrence of the life-threatening situation for a worker bee or for a swarm.