Randy,

I experienced the same.

I had an observation colony which I used for a local county fair.  At the end of each day I would bring the observation colony home and place it in a open sided lean to connected to my shop (to protect it from the rain).  The colony was sitting on top of an empty 10 frame deep to keep it off the ground.   The colony would be left open until dark to allow the bees to do house cleaning and cleansing flights.    The observation colony was then loaned to another beekeeper which lived at least 20 miles away and he had it for over a week before he returned it.  He did the same routine of letting the bees fly at night.

It was close to two weeks the bees were in the observation colony.     When I got the observation colony back, I put them into a 5 frame nuc and put it in another location.

Much to my surprise, the next morning, I see a cloud and a cluster of bees gathered in the corner of an empty deep hive body I had set the observation colony on to keep it off the ground.   

I am speculating the old foragers in the colony never forget the orginal location and they gathered back at the original spot the observation colony had been sitting (under the lean to).  There was not a nectar flow so I carried the 5 frame nuc (which I put the observation colony back into) over to the spot and the bees went into the nuc.  I then walked the nuc back to its it location.    Guess what, next morning, there was another cluster of bees on the empty hive body under the lean to.   They continued to gather there each night and each night the small cluster dwindled to a lesser number until one day they had all died.

An older and more experienced bee keeper told me the foragers never forget the location they originally orient to when they leave the hive for the first time.  He stated you will lose most of the foraging workforce every time you relocate a colony.    

If there is a nectar flow and the foragers return with nectar or honey, they might drift to a nearby colony and will be readily accepted if they are carrying groceries.  However if they try to drift or enter another colony and there is a not a nectar/pollen flow and they arrive empty handed, then they will be treated as robbers and driven out if the colony is queen right and strong colony.

I am aware all of this is anectdotal, but it seems to parallel what you reported.

Steve Petrilli
Central Illinois

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