Take a whiff if you can! Bees communication system is far beyond ours. Much of their communication is through scents.
Every hive has a "smell" of its own. The Queen has a special pheromone that belongs to her and her alone. This pheromone brings a sense of peace and harmony to the colony. What if we as mothers were able to do the same in our own households??? (we just had this natural smell and as we walked around it brought peace, sign me up!)
Interesting fact: bees do not have ears.
The Worker bee or the rest of the female bees in the colony have a gland on their backside that they use to produce "smells" of their own. Each scent communicates different pieces of vital information. It's so fun to see when they are in action performing this. They stick their little tushes up in the air, open the gland, and then flutter their four yes four little wings as quickly as they can. Other workers with their keen sense of smell pick up on the information faster than you would think and everyone gets on the same page working together for the good of the community almost instantly! (O we have so much to learn from them...)
Disrupting Bee Communication
While we are on the subject of scents in the hive, ever wonder why a beekeeper puts smoke in the hive? It is all about the smell! When the bees get a whiff of the smoke it produces two different tasks for the bees and in turn, helps the beekeeper. One – it interrupts the bees current communication. This is more than likely "hey that woman in the dirty white suit is here again messing with our home" LOL. And two – it encourages them to eat a hearty lunch. The thought process is the hive may be on fire and they need to relocate. So, much energy will bee needed for the potential endeavor. While the bees are ravishingly eating their lunch the Beekeeper can now tend to the hive carefully and the end result is much calmer. View the gallery to see some pictures of the bee removal process.
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