"Lloyd Spear" I KNOW that some queen pheremone is airborne!  I
> regularly create an artificial swarm by caging a queen with 5-10
> pounds of bees, keeping them together overnight, and then hanging the
> queen cage in a shrub 50-100 feet upwind of the bees.  In an hour or so
> virtually all the bees will have left the box and
> will be surrounding the queen in an 'artificial swarm'.  '

This is absolutely fascinating and obviously a great way to demonstrate some
of the mysterious ways of bees.  So also were Paul Collett references to air
trapping experiments.  So, obviously, yes, queen pheromone can be
airbourne.  Further evidence, drones find flying virgins by following both
'visual and
chemical cues' (Mark Winston).  Hooper & Morse state the virgin is already
producing queen substance (9-0-2) over her body, and on scenting this , a
drone fly upwind for about 10 yards looking for her and has to get within 3
feet before he can see her clearly (despite those great big eyes).

There are various different glandular secretions of the queen within 'queen
pheromone' as I understand it.  Are there different components that are
carried different ways, some by air, some by imprinting on comb, some by
contact bee to bee - or is it 3 ways of transmitting the one chemical ?
Any bee scientists out there?

Robin Dartington

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