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One of my close family friends, Brent Gay, is an expert beekeeper. He explained to me how bees communicate and why bees are drawn to their queen bee. He told me how beekeepers use this information to do their job! When bees need to be moved locations, the beekeeper first located the queen bee. Then the beekeeper moves the queen bee to the new desired location. Soon after, all the other bees in the hive have followed their queen bee to their new home. Isn't that cool?

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When a queen bee became locked inside a car - the rest of the swarm followed for 2 days until they were collected by an entomologist.

How could the bees know she was in there?  How were they able to pick the exact car she was in?!?

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Once you fall in love with honey bees, it is easy to characterize them as intelligent, practical, even prescient. But in fact, honey bees do the things they do in response to pheromones.

A pheromone is a chemical or mixture of chemicals that is released by an individual and affects the behavior or physiology of another individual of the same species. So in the world of honey bees, a pheromone released by one bee affects the behavior and physiology of other bees.

Pheromones can be further divided into two distinct types called releaser pheromones and primer pheromones:

Releaser pheromones cause rapid changes in behavior. For example, alarm pheromone quickly engages other bees to help defend the nest.

Primer pheromones cause long-term changes in both physiology and behavior. Brood pheromone, for example, suppresses worker ovary development.

Pheromones are much more complicated than they first appear, and they have proven difficult to study and isolate. For example,

Many pheromones can act as both releasers and primers

The composition of pheromones as well as the response to pheromones depends on many factors including:

Age of sender and receiver

Genetics of sender and receiver

Health of sender and receiver

Environmental conditions

Simultaneous exposure to other pheromones

Some examples of honey bee pheromones are listed below. Please realize these descriptions are greatly simplified and the common names for the pheromones can be confusing. For an in-depth discussion of these and other pheromones, see Neurobiology of Chemical Communication, Chapter 5: Chemical Communication in the Honey Bee Society by Laura Bortolotti and Cecilia Costa.

Examples of honey bee pheromones

(in alphabetical order by common name)

Alarm pheromone, produced by workers, is a releaser pheromone that calls nest mates to help defend the colony from intruders. A sting, which also releases alarm pheromone, causes other bees to sting as well.

Brood ester pheromone (BEP), produced by larvae, is a primer pheromone that, among other things, inhibits ovarian development in worker bees.

Drone pheromone is released by drones and allows them to find each other and form a drone congregation area (DCA).

Dufour's gland pheromone is not clearly understood except that it has something to do with interactions between queens and workers, and between laying workers and non-laying workers. The composition of the pheromone changes as a worker evolves into a laying worker.

Egg marking pheromone allows worker bees to distinguish between queen-laid eggs and worker-laid eggs. At one time, scientists believed that the Dufour's gland pheromone marked a queen's eggs, but now egg-marking pheromone appears to be separate.

Fecal pheromone is produced by virgin queens. In-hive squabbles between virgin queens, or virgin queens and workers, are sometimes resolved when virgins squirt feces on the aggressive bees. Workers covered in the pheromone-laced feces back off in order to groom, and virgin queens covered in feces are ignored by the workers.

Footprint pheromone, also known as trail pheromone, is found in many social insects. Worker honey bees secrete the pheromone from their feet as they go about their daily business, and the odor is attractive to other honey bees. In theory, footprint pheromone is used for orientation and may aid the workers in finding the hive entrance or in locating a good food source, but the specifics are unclear.

Nasonov pheromone, sometimes called the "come hither" scent, is produced by worker bees to attract nest mates to the colony entrance, a clustering swarm, or a food source. If you move a hive a short distance from its original location, you can see workers exposing their Nasonov gland (it lies between the sixth and seventh abdominal segments) and fanning the scent into the air. Nasonov can also be used to attract swarms to nest boxes.

Tarsal pheromone is similar to footprint pheromone but it is secreted by the queen. The pheromone is deposited on the surface of the comb and is believed to delay or prevent queen cell construction.

Tergite pheromone is produced by all bees in the hive but the composition and amount varies with the type of bee. Virgin queen tergite pheromone is believed to be related to fighting among virgin queens.

Queen mandibular pheromone (QMP) plays many roles in the hive, including regulating social behavior, swarming, mating, and suppressing laying workers. Often known as "queen substance" the pheromone is spread throughout the hive by the worker bees, thereby alerting colony members that the hive is "queen-right" and operating normally.

Queen retinue pheromone (QRP) entices worker bees to groom and feed the queen, and causes a circle of attendants to surround and care for her.

Worker pheromone (Ethyl oleate) is a primer pheromone produced by foraging bees that slows the maturation of nurse bees into forager bees. It is believed this pheromone helps to maintain a proper balance of nurse bees to forager bees in the colony.

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Honey bee pheromones: common scents - Honey Bee Suite

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Once you fall in love with honey bees, it is easy to characterize them as intelligent, practical, even prescient. But in fact, honey bees do the things they do in response to pheromones. A pheromone is a chemical or mixture of chemicals that is released by an individual and affects the behavior or physiology of another individual of the same species.

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HS-LS1-1 Construct an explanation based on evidence for how the structure of DNA determines the structure of proteins which carry out the essential functions of life through systems of specialized cells.
HS-LS1-2 Develop and use a model to illustrate the hierarchical organization of interacting systems that provide specific functions within multicellular organisms.

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Honey Bee Pheromones - How Honey Bees Communicate | Forest Nomad

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Bees are very sensitive beings, when i started to read about communication within the hive and among different bees. You start to wonder "how is this all possible?" and "How do bees communicate?" You will soon discover bees can almost be seen as superhero's with extraordinary senses and powers.

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Grades 9-12

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What is it about queen bees that are so attractive to worker bees? When we took the photo shown above, we had just prepared six queens from the day's harvest for introduction into our own colonies. Note how the workers can't seem to show enough love to the queens. These attendants were so fixated on the queens that they traveled inside our truck like this without us even needing to put a lid on the box! The workers simply had no desire to fly away nor to stop attending to the queens.

When we prepare shipments of bulk boxes, it is never a problem getting attendant bees motivated to stay and care for the queens. A quick shake of a frame of bees into the box produces more than enough workers willing to stay with, and attend to, the queens the whole time they are in transit.

The queen pheromone is so powerful that bees will even drop out of the sky to investigate a box of queens! When we deliver queens to UPS, we have been cautioned by the office staff not to arrive prior to 4:30pm, as any earlier causes curious bees to fly into their customer service center, potentially frightening UPS customers.

Inside the hive is no different. Worker bees can immediately identify the presence of a queen, as well as the lack of a queen. The method of this attraction is through a pheromone known as the "queen pheromone". The purpose of the queen pheromone is to signal to a hive that a queen is present and that she is recognizable.

A pheromone is a chemical that is secreted by a member of a species that can be used to control the behavior of another member of the same species. Imagine how much love we could receive if we humans had a pheromone as powerful as the "queen pheromone"!

Queen pheromone is secreted near the head of the queen in an area above her jaw known as the mandibular. Her secretions make her identifiable to all bees inside the hive; workers, drones, and possibly other queens. The workers spread this pheromone throughout the hive using their antennae. If this pheromone is absent, the colony will soon recognize its absence and will know that they are queenless. They will then begin to construct emergency queen cells to raise a new queen.

Not only can a hive measure the presence, or absence, of queen pheromone, but it also able to measure the level of it. A dip in the level of queen pheromone indicates that the queen could be beginning to fail. This will often cause a colony to begin raising replacement queens for supercedure of the current queen.

It is well known that overcrowded bees are more likely to swarm than bees with ample space. However, some beekeepers believe that the overcrowding of bees itself inhibits the transfer of queen pheromone throughout the colony, therefore causing the colony to raise replacement queen cells in anticipation of a swarming event.

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What is it about queen bees that are so attractive to worker bees? When we took the photo shown above, we had just prepared six queens from the day's harvest for introduction into our own colonies. Note how the workers can't seem to show enough love to the queens.

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We have seen that bees have many ways to communicate, even including through vibrations on the honeycomb they build. But the most important and powerful communication mechanism is through pheromones. Indeed, the use of pheromones within the colony is essential for communication of events, the status of their health and much more.

Bees have one of the most sophisticated pheromone-driven communication systems in all of nature, with all three castes having the ability to signal other bees through pheromones.

Let's look at the wide variety of ways in which pheromones are used and why they are so essential to bees.

What Is a Pheromone?

Pheromones are in widespread use throughout nature. A pheromone is a chemical substance released into the environment by an animal, for the express purpose of changing the behavior or physiology of others of the same species.

How important are pheromones?

One of the most well-known examples of the use of pheromones by ants, such as when they establish and can then follow a trail. But many other examples exist such as in rats, moths and flies - even underwater.

Sea lampreys have caused havoc in some parts of the fishing industry, so scientists are investigating how the sea lamprey's own sex pheromone can be used to quell the chaos they cause .

There are deceptive uses of pheromones in nature too. Many orchids fool bees into visiting them - and thus helping with pollination - by counterfeiting the pheromone of a particular bee species. The effort necessary for the plant to create this pheromone to attract bees is lower than that necessary to offer the real reward of nectar!

Nature is incredible.

The Importance of Pheromones to Bees

With this background, it's clear to see that the use of pheromones in the close confines of a bee hive can be a powerful force. And indeed, it is!

Many key messages are sent through using pheromones. As we will see below, these range from relatively localized messages, with minor impact, to dramatic signals that rapidly change the behavior of the entire colony.

Bees use pheromones in almost all aspects of their life. This includes reproduction and development of brood, mating, swarming, foraging, defense and more. Given the widespread use of pheromones, they can be considered the single most important way in which bees communicate.

Primer vs. Releaser Pheromones

As is the case with many animals in nature, bees use two types of pheromones:

Primer Pheromones: These prompt a complex reaction in the receiver of the pheromone, creating changes that are both behavioral and developmental. They operate at the physiological level. Examples of primary pheromones in bees include the queen mandibular and brood pheromones, both covered below.

Releaser Pheromones: These have a weaker, short-term effect, generating a more simplistic response in the receiver only at the behavioral level. Worker bees generally use releaser pheromones.

Let's look at the various pheromones that might be floating around in your beehive!

Types of Pheromones

Queen Mandibular

The Queen Mandibular Phereomone (QMP) is perhaps the most important pheromone, from the perspective of the colony. It is composed of five compounds, is secreted by the queen and essentially sends a message of "queen well-being" throughout the colony.

QMP is interpreted in various ways and plays a role in the suppression of egg-laying by worker bees, swarming and in attracting drones when mating.

The worker bee response to QMP is an example of a primer pheromone at work, where the presence of QMP will stop their ovaries developing.

As worker bees encounter the queen, they will collect tiny amounts of QMP on their bodies. As they move around the hive to administer their various duties, they spread QMP throughout the hive very efficiently. Through this mechanism, the colony expects certain levels of QMP to signal a healthy queen.

When the "per bee" QMP levels fall below a certain threshold, this may be interpreted as meaning the colony is too large. In these situations, swarming may result, to reduce the number of bees in the beehive.

Queen Retinue

The group of worker bees that follow the queen around tending to her needs is referred to as the queen retinue. The Queen Retinue Pheromone (QRP) is complex, with both primer and releaser characteristics and has a direct effect on the queen's retinue. It can be considered a superset of QMP since it is composed of the five compounds of QMP, plus four more.

Alarm

The complexity of pheromones in bees is illustrated well by the two types of alarm pheromone, which can be distinguished by the gland releasing the pheromone.

From the Koschevnikov gland: This gland is near the sting shaft and released when a bee stings. The release of the alarm pheromone is a defensive reaction to alert nearby bees. This pheromone smells like bananas. If you are unfortunate enough to be stung, you may wish to leave the area as you tend to the sting, because alarm pheromones are being received by other bees.

From the Mandibular glands: This consists of 2-heptanone and is used as an anesthetic and to paralyze intruders, after which bees remove the intruder from the hive.

Brood Recognition

This pheromone is released by developing larvae and pupae. It signals to worker bees that brood continues to develop in the hive, which like QMP, limits the development of worker ovaries.

Drone

Drone Congregation Areas (DCRs) are used as consistent places, year after year, for drones to gather and mate with queens. The drone pheromone is released by male bees to attract other drones to DCAs.

Dufour's Gland

This pheromone is evident on eggs laid by a queen. This allows workers to distinguish them from those laid by a worker bee, the former being more attractive.

Egg-Marking

This has a similar purpose to the DuFour's Gland pheromone, in that it helps worker bees distinguish between queen and worker-laid eggs.

Nasonov

An important pheromone released by worker bees to help returning forager bees find their way back to the colony. Workers raise the abdomen and fan their wings as they release this pheromone.

Footprint

This has a similar "find home" purpose and is deposited as bees walk around the hive. The queen also emits this as she moves around the hive. This signals that there is no need for the colony to consider creating a new queen, since she is still active.

Forager

Older foraging bees release this pheromone, which collectively signals the presence of forgers in the colony. This, in turn, inhibits the creation of nurse bees, to keep the ratio of foragers to nurse bees within appropriate limits.

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We have seen that bees have many ways to communicate, even including through vibrations on the honeycomb they build. But the most important and powerful communication mechanism is through pheromones. Indeed, the use of pheromones within the colony is essential for communication of events, the status of their health and...

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How Honey Bees Communicate Part 1 (Pheromones)