Tag Archives: nasonov

All Hives Are Go

11 Apr

The ‘hood is now two hives richer. Despite the wind, we successfully installed 2 packages of honey bees in Albuquerque’s Nob Hill neighborhood near the University of New Mexico. It’s a great place to keep bees with plenty of backyard gardeners and loads of flowering trees on campus.

Below is the Ann Hive, site of last year’s bee tragedy. It’s got a new team on board, a new graffiti wall, and we’re feeling optimistic.

The Ann Hive, now with bees

The Ann Hive, now with bees


Within a couple of minutes after installing the package, our new girls were tail in the air releasing an orienting pheromone from their Nasonov Gland. The photo below is one of the new occupants of the Ann Hive, hanging her hat on the door and calling it home.
Bee exposing and fanning her Nasonov Gland to release an orienting pheromone

Bee exposing and fanning her Nasonov Gland to release an orienting pheromone


Bonus! I’ve uploaded this image to Wikimedia Commons. Enjoy šŸ˜‰

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We have Nasonov Action

16 Feb
Honeybee exposes her Nasonov gland

Honeybee exposes her Nasonov gland

Never has tail in the air looked so good.

Our new girls have officially accepted us, as evidenced by some Nasonov action on the landing board yesterday.

The Nasonov gland, hidden at the base of the abdomen, releases a special pheromone that callsĀ forager bees back to the colony. Ā It’s essentially used to declare “Home, Sweet, Home” in case anyone’s confused or lost.

To me, it’s a sign the girls in the Kerry hive have decided to call us home.

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