Why do bees pipe and buzz inside the hive?
Short answerTrueEmerging research
Piping is a vibratory signal produced against the comb. A newly emerged queen toots; queens still sealed in their cells quack back, and the exchange regulates when rivals emerge. Workers also pipe in a settled swarm to signal that departure is imminent and that flight muscles should be warmed up.
Queen tooting and quacking
When a virgin queen emerges she presses her thorax to the comb and produces a series of pulses — tooting. Queens still inside sealed cells answer with a lower, muffled quacking. The exchange lets workers and queens regulate the sequence of emergence, so that rivals do not all appear at once, and it is audible from outside a hive to anybody who knows to listen.
Worker piping
In a settled swarm, workers produce a rising piping tone in the hours before departure. It raises the readiness of the cluster, and warmed flight muscles are what allows several thousand bees to take off within a few minutes rather than straggling. It is one of the clearest cases of a signal that prepares rather than directs.
Sources
- Honeybee Democracy — Princeton University Press (2010) · Monograph
- The Biology of the Honey Bee — Harvard University Press (1987) · Textbook
- Pheromones of Social Bees — Chapman and Hall (1987) · Monograph
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