Cause: Leave bees or fly away.
There are two main reasons why bees look for new nests: separating bees and flying away. Among them, bee sorting is the main way to increase the number of bees and expand their distribution area. When dividing bees, the old queen bee will leave the original nest with most worker bees to find a new site, and flying away is a migration activity caused by bees' dissatisfaction with the current nest site. For example, the lack of honey sources nearby and the serious threat from the enemy will cause bees to migrate to other places to nest.
Reconnaissance: looking for a new nest
A large number of reconnaissance bees will be sent before the bees go to the new nest site. After finding a suitable nest site, the reconnaissance bees will return to the colony and indicate the location of the new nest site. If a large number of reconnaissance bees indicate a location, the whole colony will move to a new nest site. But if we can't find a suitable nest site within this range, the bees will fly farther away, and then the reconnaissance bees discharged from the bees will still go out to find a new nest site.
Site selection: extremely demanding.
Nest site is very important for the development of bee colony, so bees have extremely strict requirements on nest site. First, there are abundant and relatively continuous honey sources nearby. Second, the temperature and humidity should be suitable for the survival of bees. Third, it should help bees resist the harm of natural enemies. Fourth, the surrounding environment should be quiet. For example, nearby stone caves, tree caves or earth caves with rich honey sources are ideal nesting sites for bees.
Nesting: worker bees secrete wax to build nests.
After finding a suitable nest site, the bees will move to a new nest site and start building nests. The nesting material is beeswax secreted by working bees of appropriate age in the bee colony. In fact, the whole hive is composed of several or dozens of nests and spleens which are relatively parallel and perpendicular to the ground, and the nests and spleens are composed of a large number of hexagonal honeycombs (honeycombs) arranged closely. In addition, when the bee colony needs it, the worker bees will build a queen bee platform under the nest spleen to cultivate a new queen bee.
Note: Bees are a kind of "family-loving" social insects, and rarely abandon their nests except to leave or fly away naturally. Among them, natural parting is the main way of bee population diffusion, and flying away is the instinctive reaction of bee colony to continue to survive.
Where do bees nest?
Bees are social insects, and honeycombs are the basis for the survival and reproduction of bees. Therefore, the choice of nest site is extremely demanding, which requires not only rich honey sources near the hive, but also warm in winter and cool in summer to defend against natural enemies. Let's see where bees will nest!
Honey source: There are abundant honey sources nearby.
Honey source is the material basis for bees to survive. In fact, bees feed entirely on flowers (including nectar and pollen), and the effective collection radius of bees is about 3 km. Therefore, bees generally choose to nest in a relatively continuous place with rich honey sources within a radius of 3 kilometers. If there is a long-term lack of honey sources near the original hive, bees will also move to places with rich honey sources to re-nest.
Environment: The temperature and humidity should be suitable.
The normal survival of bees needs suitable temperature. Although bees have the ability to regulate the temperature, they usually nest in places that are warm in winter and cool in summer. At the same time, the hive needs to have a certain humidity. Too dry or too wet is bad for bees. In addition, the place where bees nest needs shelter from the wind and rain (the hive consists of several or dozens of nests, which does not have the function of shelter from the wind and rain).
Enemy damage: it is beneficial to resist enemy damage.
The enemies of bees in nature include wasps, ants and spiders. Among them, wasps are the most harmful to bees, especially in the case of lack of food outside. Therefore, bees usually build their nests in places with narrow holes (to protect the hive) and relatively secret (to prevent the enemy from finding them), such as stone crevices, tree holes or earth holes with a certain space inside.
Water source: there is an easy-to-collect water source.
Water is the source of life and bees are no exception. Especially in dry summer, bees often go to the water source to get water. In addition to quenching thirst (bees often drink dew to replenish water in rainy season), bees are also used to prepare food (bees dilute honey with water to prepare pollen) and adjust the humidity and temperature in the hive, so there is generally water near the hive for easy collection.
Summary: Beehive is not only a "warehouse" for storing food, but also a "nursery" for cultivating new bees. So bees are extremely demanding about the choice of nesting address. In fact, bees in nature usually nest in nearby caves, tree holes or earth holes with rich honey sources.