The beeline

[dpence]

Just curious as to how many of our group have actually traced a beeline back to a feral hive.   Once I read a method of finding bee hives by capturing several bees then releasing them at intervals along the way and tracking the direction (straight line).   

David   

[Michael Bush]

I have.  It's a bit trickier than you think as they fly up and then in a line and you need some eyesight to see them.    But it works.

[dpence]

Yes that makes sense cause when I tried it the flew in a circle for a bit, then I lost them.  Have to have some sharp eyes.

[ArmucheeBee]

I tried this with yellow jackets this fall.  They were coming to my feeders.  Both bees and jackets are so blame fast that you can't keep your eye on them.  A cool day may prove better.  It must either be blue sky or big, fluffy, white clouds to back light the bee.  Then you have the problem of trees!!!!   It gets almost impossible.  I traced some bees coming to a feeder, watched and walked for 3 hours.  They would fly incredibly high to get over a row of trees so that was the end of that.  The best source I read said to triangulate.  You don't really follow, you take a pad and pen and release and triangulate the lines of flight.  I try that this spring.

[fermentedhiker]

I seem to remember one source saying it's best to do in a dearth.  Give them some syrup to get them commuting back and forth to the hive and just keep moving the syrup container toward the direction they are leaving.  I haven't had a chance to try it though.  Might be a fun way to spend an afternoon, even if it only leads me down the road to some backyard hive 

[slaphead]

The syrup in dearth strategy works.  I had that exact experience last year and assuming a neighboring set of hives were trying to rob out mine followed the path of bees back to find a feral colony all of 100 feet from the hive.  Here's hoping it survives the winter.

Slaphead

[Jacobs]

I haven't tried it, but I remember someone at our bee meeting saying he had sprinkled a small amount of powdered sugar or something similar on the bees at the feeder. This made it easier for him to see them in flight and follow them back to their hive.  It sounds like it might be worth a try.

[iddee]

Click on the links along the side. What, how, when, ETC.

http://www.bee-quick.com/500/index.html