In message <[log in to unmask]> [log in to unmask] buffalo.edu writes: > On Mon, 26 Sep 1994, Jerry J Bromenshenk wrote: > > > Well, by noon there were several hundred foragers outside the east > > window, trying to get in where the hives had been 2 weeks before. > > Jerry, I've been thinking more on this. What would be interesting is to > know what those bees would have done if you had had another (new) > observation hive inside the window on the above foragers' original stand > and they could have had access. > > Would they have joined the new hive there, tried to rob it, or neither of > the above. > > One would have to mark the bees to find out. Fascinating! > > On a similar note, if a swarm loses its queen, the bees all return to the > original (parent) hive. Otherwise they never (so far as we know) go back > to visit their old friends. Or do they? :) > > W. Allen Dick, Beekeeper > Rural Route One, Swalwell, Alberta Canada T0M 1Y0 > Phone/Fax: 403 546 2588 Email: [log in to unmask] > Hi, Jerry will probably answer this too. They would go to the new hive, which would accept them provided they bring forage with them. Bees are pretty magnanimous/opportunistic this way. They only fight off 'robbers'. Marking bees to test this is not easy -- you would have to mark an awful lot! In the U.K. we have various strains of bees (I guess you do too). I can do the test using a black strain and a yellow strain and I can then clearly see the results. And I _don't_ end up with dozens of 'queens' :) -- Gordon Scott [log in to unmask] 100332,3310 on CompuServe Newsletter [log in to unmask] ditto Beekeeper, Kendo Sandan, sometime sailor. Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG22 5HP, UK A truly wise man never plays leapfrog with a Unicorn.