Odd Knocking Sound Inside My Bee Hive. Can you identify what is happening from the sound?

hmm. where was the microphone?

tel jetson wrote:hmm. where was the microphone?

I recorded it with my cell phone at the back of the bottom box of a three-box Warre style hive. It was recorded outside of the hive.

It sounds like bugs (not bees) flying into a window or piece of tin. Is there anything non-wood in that hive?

This is why I love having windows in my hive boxes. I can open up and inspect without opening up the hive.

have you checked there is nothing in the quilt box ?ants mice etc

David

David Livingston wrote:have you checked there is nothing in the quilt box ?ants mice etc

David

No. I didn't open the hive. I just listened.

There should not be anything in the quilt box. I put burlap on both the top and bottom this spring. Do you think I need to open it up?

Other than the screened bottom and quilt materials, there is nothing non wood inside the hive body.

It does sound like a fly, wasp, or bumble bee maybe trying to get out of there. Maybe one flew through the opening and got stuck inside the bottom box.

I am a little confused . You put burlap - hessian on the top and the bottom ? So what have you filled it with . I just put it on the bottom and fill it with straw . I know folks who have found all sorts in the quilt box mice lizards ants . Having a quick look would not disturb the bees at all . Burlap would not stop a mouse for instance.

David

David Livingston wrote:I am a little confused . You put burlap - hessian on the top and the bottom ? So what have you filled it with . I just put it on the bottom and fill it with straw . I know folks who have found all sorts in the quilt box mice lizards ants . Having a quick look would not disturb the bees at all . Burlap would not stop a mouse for instance.

David

Straw and hay.

to me this sounds like a mouse ... you better open the hive and check.

I checked the hive when I got home from work today. I didn't open it. I did crawl underneath and peered up.

The box at the bottom of the hive is relatively new, and is completely empty of any comb. There are a number of bees on the bottom screen, most inside but a few on the outside facing in. The bottom box is empty, and acts like a sound chamber.

It looks like the sound is replicated when bees fly down and plink against the screen bottom board. It may be that there are some robbers in this hive, and the bees inside are attacking them? Maybe it is just the bees outside peering in that are the problem.

A few days ago, something did disturb this hive as bees were angry and swirling around the outside.

I am a new beekeeper so I do not know if this robbing theory is plausible. I did notice that the sound correlated with a bee bouncing off the screen bottom board, plinking against it if you will.

still odd, if this hive is small and you fear, you have a robbery, it is probably best to reduce the entrance size, so your bees can easily protect it. A bee bouncing of a solid screen is odd. I had bees flying against a glass pane (windows), but never against something solid.

Edwin,

I don't have Dropbox so I haven't heard the knocking you refer to. After reading the further posts here I definitely agree that there is a plunking/plinking noise bees make hitting the screen on screen bottom boards. When I slide my bottom boards out from under the screens to inspect for mites I can hear the bees hitting the screen. It's not a lot of hits, it does have a particular sound, and it calms down quickly. I think the bees just feel something has opened the bottom of their hive and come flying down to see what it is.

Ernie

Ernie Schmidt wrote:Edwin,

I don't have Dropbox so I haven't heard the knocking you refer to. After reading the further posts here I definitely agree that there is a plunking/plinking noise bees make hitting the screen on screen bottom boards. When I slide my bottom boards out from under the screens to inspect for mites I can hear the bees hitting the screen. It's not a lot of hits, it does have a particular sound, and it calms down quickly. I think the bees just feel something has opened the bottom of their hive and come flying down to see what it is.

Ernie

I was thinking about this issue this week. I think I will slide the bottom board back into the hive. (I removed it because of the summer heat in my NC climate.) I hope that will help them (also) encourage building comb into the bottom box.

Also, I noticed that the bees don't seem to have guards at the entrance of this hive. Or if they do, they are not there consistently.

Bees are pretty smart so maybe I am just being a human and doing unneeded things. But I don't see how my proposed steps could do anything but to make them calmer and more secure.

PS: Dropbox is just a storage place for files. You should be able to go there and download the sound file somewhere that you can listen to it.

Hello Edwin,

I know that this is an older topic, but I hope that in the meantime you have found out what caused the ticking noises. I heard something similar today, checked the screen underneath the hive but to my idea it did not come from there. The bees outside the hive seemed agitated. And at the end of the day I found some 25 bees on the ground in front of the hive and some 60 bees underneath the hive. Since it has been quite cold the last couple of nights, I collected the very passive bees, took them in the house where they warmed up and started being active again, and took them back into the hive.

I did not open the hive because it was not warm enough, but it sounded like something was inside the hive, and agitated the bees. I've only had this hive for about 3 weeks now, but have never seen so many bees outside the hive at the end of the day (sure to die during the night). So, I'm really curious to know what caused the ticking sound and why.

Cheers!