Monthly Archives: May 2013

Honey Bees Fanning

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Honey bees have a tonne of behaviours that are fun to discover. One of the first things I noticed was the way they clamp on tight to a spot outside the hive entrance and beat their wings with everything they’ve got, a behaviour that’s commonly known as fanning (not to be confused with scenting). The fanning creates an air current inside the hive that helps evaporate nectar into honey and regulates the temperature of the brood nest. I took a few more photos today.

Honey bees fanning. (May 26, 2013.)

Honey bees fanning. (May 26, 2013.)

See How to Attract Honey Bees with a Leaky Hose to view a video of honey bees fanning, or do a search for “fanning.”
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How to Attract Honey Bees with a Leaky Hose

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Here’s a short video that documents some common honey bee behaviour: Drinking from a leaky garden hose and fanning around the hive entrance.

Forget about planting flowers to attract honey bees. If you want to see honey bees up close, take a leaky garden hose and let it leak over a hard surface like rocks or concrete, or a stinky surface like composted soil. The bees love it, especially in the spring.

Recycled Honey: Feeding Bees Crystallized Honey (in Jars)

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I had more jars of crystallized honey than I could eat or give away, so I gave it to the bees and they loved it.

They cleaned out every bit of honey from the jars. I eventually surrounded the inner cover hole with five or six jars of crystallized honey all at once and it worked perfectly as a spring feeding.

Feeding last year's crystallized honey to the bees. (May 17, 2013.)

Feeding last year’s crystallized honey to the bees. (May 17, 2013.)