Subject: Bee Hunting

From: [email-masked] (Allen, Brian James )
Date: 30 Apr 1996 18:29:51 GMT

Greetings, some time ago I was reading some trashy "killer bee" thriller the
title of which I don't exactly recall right now.  Anyway, the book was most
certainly a piece of wild fiction, but described therin was a process which
seems to be possibly based on fact.  

One of the characters engaged in a process he called "bee hunting" which was
described in the book as an old but now rarely pursued practice.  The character
went into a flowered clearing in the early spring where there were a high
number of foraging honeybees.  He then set out a portion of anise (the liquer,
my spelling may be incorrect) scented sugar water.  Scout bees soon found the
sugar water and brought reinforcements.  When many bees were congregated around
his bait, he began to mark them with fingernail polish.  When these marked bees
began returning, he would mark their line or lines of departure on a topgraphic
map.

Once one or more definate lines of departure had been established with compass
on the map, he moved to another area some distance away and began the process
again.  Soon previously marked bees began returning to his bait and he was able
to establish more lines of departure.  By triangulation, he was able to come
somewhat close to the area of feral hives, he then either visually located the
hive or repeated the process.  Once the hive was found, he intended to return
in the fall, cut down the tree, and harvest the honey. (Of course the killer
bees killed him as soon as he found the hive, it was trashy fiction after all.)

Despite coming from a trashy novel, this process does seem possible, if
somewhat impractical.  Has anyone ever heard of anything similar to this?  I
thought I might give it a try just for fun some weekend, I do a lot of hiking
anyway and this sounds like a good excuse for an aimless wandering.

When bees fly back home after filling up, do they generally pretty much line of
site back to the hive as implied by the book, or do they tend to follow land 
countours?  If they do the latter, the process might work where I'm originally
>from  in the Nebraska flatlands, but not here in the front range of the rockies.

How long does it take a bee to fill up at a feeder, fly home and unload, then
return to the feeder?  It seems that this bee hunting thing could easily be an
all day or even all weekend hunt. 

On the same topic, are their any other ways to find wild hives? As a youth, I
attempted to follow numerous honeybees back to their hives, with zero success. 
Anyone ever actually done this?  I did read a survival book once which
advocated "glueing" a bit of milkweed silk or such to a fully loaded pollen
gathering honeybee with a bit of pine pitch to slow down her flight and allow a
poor lost starving hiker to find a wild hive.  How this actual glueing was to
be accomplished, I'm not exactly sure.  Seems to me the bee would attempt to
free herself on the spot before returning home, but maybe not.

IT seems to me that a good method of finding wild hives would have been
developed, if not by honey hunters, then either by beekeepers who want to
eleminate sources of disease and competition for their hives or by biological
researchers researching the spread of things like foulbrood and verroa.  

If anyone has any knowlege or experinece with the above methods of finding wild
hives, I would be interested in hearing about it.  Mostly I just have an
academic interest, but I might try a little honey hunting if I get time. It
appears all the surviving wild hives are probably going to die of Verroa
 problems in the next couple of years anyway, if they haven't already.

                                     Brian Allen

---

From: Nate Saal <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 30 Apr 1996 23:00:51 -0700

Allen:

Sounds like it could work, but I'm no bee expert.

A couple things come to mind.  First, I recall watching a Public 
Television special about a tribe in Africa that would hunt wild hives.  
>From  what I recall, they would actually follow a certain species of 
bird, rather than the bees.  I believe this species of bird was known to 
raid hives often.  Upon the location of the wild hive, the hunter would 
provide the bird with an offering of honeycomb.  So, there are other 
methods in use.

On a more personal note...  I've been relatively successful at locating 
wild hives by sound.  After a number of years of beekeeping, I've become 
familiar with the particular buzz of bees.  If I remember my science 
correctly, honeybee have a particular wing speed.  This beat rate 
produces a distinct pitch (subject to slight change if the bee is flying 
towards you or away from you).  Anyway, if you keep your eyes and more 
importantly, your ears open, you might have better luck.

This might also be interesting as a high tech honey hunting method.  If 
you could develop a device which detected the particular bee tone, you 
might be able to locate a hive with a high power microphone.  Just an 
idea.

nate

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 01 May 1996 12:27:32 GMT

[email-masked] (Allen, Brian James        ) wrote:

Bee hunting, also known as bee lining is a lot of fun.  You will need
a pair of binoculars.  The easiest way I know of is to heat some honey
comb to attract the bees to your staging area.  Set up a bee boardman
feeder with sugar water.  The anise sent is placed around the feeder
not in the sugar water.  The bees will pick up the sent on their
bodies and give the other bees a clue of what scent to look for.
After filling up the bee will make several circles around the feeder
to get her bearings and then suddenly head straight back towards the
hive.  After  a while several beelines should be noticed.  You should
be able to see the beelines above the trees with your binoculars.
They will appear as streaks going in both directions.  When the
beelines stop you have passed the hive.  Look and listen everywhere in
the area.

Windy days are probably the easiest to find feral colonies.  The bees
fly closely to the ground and do not necessarily beeline.  They quite
often follow headge rows to avoid the wind.  You simply follow the
bees back to their hive.  

Greg Ferris

---

From: Mark Dillow <[email-masked]>
Date: 1 May 1996 17:34:10 GMT

>hives, I would be interested in hearing about it.  

Brian, 
I seem to recall one of the "Foxfire" books had a section on 
this subject. These books should be available at your local 
library and chronical some of the disappearing folklife skills 
of Appalachin moutain dewllers. Interesting stuff.

Mark Dillow

---

From: [email-masked] (Christopher Dew)
Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 13:03:59 GMT

Not quite bees, but it may be applicable...

Twice this spring we have found queen wasps hibernating in curtains.  They
were easy to catch and one has been given to a friend of my father, who
wants a wasps nest to supply him with bait for fishing.

Do queen bees hibernate?  Could you make a really attractive queen bee
shelter near where you think there is a hive?

--
   ____________
  /\  _________\  Christopher Dew
  \ \ \______  /
   \ \ \  / / /   e-mail: [email-masked]
    \ \ \/ / /           
     \ \/ / /        
      \  / /     
       \/_/