Glossary
A high-pitched sound (quacking or tooting) produced by virgin queens inside the hive. Tooting is made by the first emerged queen, and quacking is the response from queens still inside their cells. Piping plays a role in the colony's queen replacement process.
Most people think of buzzing when they think of bee sounds, but inside the hive, virgin queens produce a distinctly different vocalization. The first virgin queen to emerge from her cell produces a "tooting" sound: a clear, high-pitched tone (around 500 Hz) produced by pressing her thorax against the comb and vibrating her flight muscles without opening her wings. The sound propagates through the comb like a vibrational telegraph.
Queens still sealed inside their cells respond with "quacking": a series of shorter, lower-pitched pulses. This call-and-response is not friendly communication; it is a declaration of war. The free queen's tooting announces "I am out." The quacking warns "I am still here, and I am ready to fight."
In a colony preparing to swarm, multiple queen cells mature simultaneously. The first queen to emerge has the advantage. She may seek out rival queen cells and sting through them, killing the occupants before they emerge. If worker bees intervene and protect the cells (by clustering over them), the queens use piping to assess each other's position and readiness. Eventually, rivals emerge and the queens fight to the death until only one survives.
Experienced beekeepers can sometimes hear piping by pressing an ear against the hive wall during queen replacement events. The distinctive sound is a real-time indicator that a new queen has emerged and the succession process is underway.
Sometimes, especially on quiet evenings. The sound is subtle and high-pitched. Many beekeepers never hear it in person but can capture it with smartphones placed near the hive entrance during queen replacement events.
Piping from a free queen ('tooting') indicates a virgin queen has emerged and is asserting dominance. It is a normal part of the queen replacement process. However, it also means the colony is currently queenless of a mated, laying queen and will remain so until the virgin mates successfully.
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