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.
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