Bee behavior

A loaded honey bee flies slower than an empty one. Past 5 kilometers, the energy cost of returning approaches the value of the nectar carried. The math sets the limit.

When nectar dries up, strong colonies will raid their neighbors. A robbing frenzy can strip a weaker hive bare in hours. The triggers are predictable.

A 40-liter box with a south-facing entrance, 3 meters up, baited with old brood comb. Seeley's research validated the formula. Catch rates approach 80%.

A colony consumes up to 1 liter of water daily - none of it for drinking. The nearest reliable source is often your neighbor's pool. Bees don't forget it.

Swarming is a colony splitting in two - controlled, seasonal, predictable. Absconding is 50,000 bees deciding overnight to abandon everything and never come back. The triggers and warning signs for each are completely different.

Karl von Frisch decoded it in 1945: angle encodes direction relative to the sun, duration encodes distance. A 15-second dance means food 3 km away.