Lesson 11: How Bees Communicate

Dances and scent signals, and why they matter when you work a hive

Thousands of bees working in the dark somehow act together. They do it in two main ways: by dancing and by scent. The scent signals affect you directly every time you open a hive, which is why this lesson belongs early in the course.

The dance language

When a forager finds a good food source, she comes home and dances on the comb to recruit other bees to it. Other workers follow her dance, learn where the food is, and fly out to find it. Scout bees also use dances to pick a new home when a colony swarms (lesson 12).

The dance tells recruits how far and in which direction to fly. Scientists consider it the only known abstract "language" in nature besides human language. The Austrian scientist Karl von Frisch worked out its meaning over decades of research and won a Nobel Prize for it in 1973.

Distance

• Round dance: food very close to the hive (less than about 50 meters). The bee runs in small circles, suddenly reversing direction. It says "close by" but gives no direction.
• Sickle dance: in between (about 50–150 meters). A crescent-shaped dance, halfway between the round dance and the waggle dance.
• Waggle dance: food farther away (more than about 150 meters). The bee runs straight ahead while wagging her abdomen side to side and buzzing, loops back around in a half circle, runs the straight line again, and loops back the other way, making a figure eight. The longer the waggle run lasts, the farther away the food is.

Direction

This is the clever part. The waggle dance happens on a vertical comb in the dark, so the bee uses "straight up" to stand for the direction of the sun.

• Waggle run straight up the comb: fly toward the sun.
• Waggle run straight down: fly directly away from the sun.
• Waggle run 60 degrees to the left of straight up: fly 60 degrees to the left of the sun.

Because the sun moves across the sky, a bee dancing for the same flower patch changes her angle during the day.

Scent helps too

Recruits also pick up the smell of the flowers on the dancer. The most accepted view today is that recruits fly to the area described by the dance, then home in on the flower patch by smell.

Scent signals: pheromones

Pheromones are chemical signals that bees give off to change the behavior of other bees. Several are important for a beekeeper to know.

The queen's scent. The queen produces a blend of pheromones. Her scent:

• helps hold the colony together and keeps it organized;
• stops workers from laying eggs (lesson 44);
• stops the colony from raising new queens while she's healthy;
• helps a swarm keep track of where the queen is.

Workers gather around the queen, facing and touching her, and pass her scent through the colony. This circle of attendants is called her retinue. Young, well-mated queens give off more pheromone, which helps keep colonies productive and less likely to swarm (lessons 42 and 45).

The alarm pheromone. When guard bees feel threatened, they release an alarm pheromone that tells other workers to get ready to sting. When a bee stings, the stinger area gives off this alarm scent as well, which is why one sting can quickly lead to more.

Why this matters when you work bees:

• Smoke masks the alarm pheromone. Bees can't smell the signal to defend, so they stay calmer. Smoke also makes bees gorge on honey, which makes them less likely to fly and sting. It works a bit like air freshener in a smelly locker room. Lessons 21 and 32 cover using the smoker.
• Crushed bees smell alarming. Work slowly and avoid crushing bees (lesson 33).
• Strong scents on you (perfume, scented soap) can upset bees, because they're very sensitive to smells (lesson 2).

What to remember

• Dances tell recruits where food is: round dance = close (no direction); waggle dance = farther, with distance in the length of the waggle run and direction as the angle from straight up = the angle from the sun.
• Pheromones are scent signals. The queen's scent keeps the colony organized and stops workers laying and new queens being raised.
• The alarm pheromone tells bees to sting; smoke masks it.

Quick check

1. A bee does a waggle dance with the straight run pointing straight down the comb. Where is the food?
2. What does the round dance tell other bees?
3. Why does smoke calm bees?

Show answers

1. In the direction directly away from the sun. 2. That food is close to the hive, but not which direction. 3. It masks the alarm pheromone, so bees can't smell the signal to defend, and it makes them gorge on honey.

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Adapted from: NC State Extension, The Honey Bee Dance Language; Penn State Extension, An Introduction to Queen Honey Bee Development (Anton & Grozinger, updated 2025); Purdue Extension, Learning About Beekeeping (4-H-1057-W); UF/IFAS Extension, Welcome to the Apiary! (4H446); USDA Agricultural Research Service, Bee Safety; Delaplane, K. S., Honey Bees and Beekeeping (UGA Extension Bulletin 1045, rev. 2017).

Adapted from university Extension sources. Experienced Georgia beekeepers are reviewing these lessons. See something that doesn't match your experience? Tell us.