> the honeybee will only live a short time 
> away from the hive by herself

I'm sure that competent people have done the
obvious things, like provide water or thin
enough nectar, so it clearly is not a lack
of basic physical needs "killing" the bee.

I've captured bees in bee-lining boxes and
kept them there for hours at a time without
any dying on me, and all I provide is a
sugar-water soaked sponge.  I assume the
period you are speaking of is longer than
a single morning or afternoon.

I'm sure many of us may have found bees in 
early morning warming up their flight muscles
on the blossom where they spent the night,
so the time limit would also seem to be
longer than "overnight".

Perhaps the problem here is that you need
at least TWO bees in a box to get them to 
maintain the "will to live".  They are 
called "social insects", perhaps there is
a "psychological need" at work here.

After all, a famous man once said:

"Two bees, or not two bees, that is the question..."

Sorry.  It is a compulsion.
(Send you dollars now, so that I can be taught to
lead a more productive, perhaps even happy life.)

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