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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Subject:
From:
"J. Waggle" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Fri, 14 Mar 2008 04:01:15 -0700
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--- Bill Truesdell <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I actually have tried, over many years, the empty
> box with old comb technique and have struck out
> every year. 

Hello Bill,

Lures are IMO a must when using bait boxes.

> I have been on the call list for swarms and only
> have had one call and that was 10 years ago and
> might have been 
> my bees, since they were close. 

My friends at a local pest control company are perhaps
the most pro bee people I have ever met!  They WILL
NOT harm bees under any circumstance, except in an
extreme danger to health or safety, which turns out
rarely is the case.  Bee Calls tend to go to the pest
companies, and that’s where to leave your name.  Last
two seasons, I am having a hard time keeping up with
the swarm calls, almost like the good old days again. 
  

 how 
> would you go about it in that about one month time
> frame?

I may be one of the last surviving
regularly-practicing traditional ‘bee hunters‘. ;)
Some old bee hunters over the ridge from my place,
(contrary to popular belief, bee hunters are not all
dead yet) still enjoy an occasional bee hunt.  They
course bees in the woodlands as I do, well off the
beaten path, far from city parks, smog and cigarette
butts.  The woodlands of western PA,  has been held a
long tradition of bee hunting, and for many years,
according to historians, feral bees were said to 
“…thrive and multiply exceedingly“  and  “…get great
store of them in the woods where they are free for any
Body…”. 
 
BTW, The term ‘bee lining’ is a relatively obscure, 
more recent term, and not commonly used amongst
traditional bee hunters.  ‘Bee hunting’ ‘honey
hunting’ or ’coursing bees’ were the terms used
through generations, and where the tradition is handed
down, so is the lingo, and are still the terms used by
those practicing this tradition.  The use of these
terms are reveling in that those claiming to have
gleaned the art of bee hunting from a ‘hand me down
tradition‘ or from the elders, would use the old
traditional terms to describe the art, and not the
obscure or book read  ‘bee lining‘ term.  The
old-timer from over the ridge from me in the woodlands
near an old mining town taught me many of the old
techniques of bee hunting, he’s an old timer but not
to be fooled, he’s tough as nails.      The bee
hunting old timers I know, never have used the term
bee lining. They, as well as I do,  prefer to be
called ‘bee hunters’ and with respect to tradition and
the old bee hunters that helped me learn the art, I
will use that term.  

My bee hunting nowadays is for identifying locations
of feral nests, and gathering swarms from them by
placing a catch device about 20 feet from the feral
bee tree, a device that occasionally surprises me and
works as intended.  Is not a trap, but an auto-catch
device to obtain a swarm as it alights in bivouac from
the colony, thereby causing no harm to the mother
feral colony or bee traffic to and fro.  With
permission from the landowner, a feral colony will be
removed ONLY if the tree is rotted to a great degree,
exposed to the elements, fallen to the ground or in
some pending danger.  

At this time of year,  I might take about a dozen
forager bees from a distant yard to an open spot in
the area I wish to bee hunt.  There I allow the bees I
brought to get their fill of the reward.  Near this
place, a small smudge pot of beeswax and honey is
heated over a small flame,  the odor from the smudge
pot goes down wind to attract scouts.  The foragers
brought with me are released, and it appears they go
off mostly in an upwind direction or toward tree
lines, seeking a new colony that will adopt them. 
These released bees perhaps find the nearest colony,
and once there, will dance the location of the reward.
 I prefer to see returning scouts fly off in the
direction of up wind, this tends to suggest, I am in
for a short walk, but it is not always the case.      
   

From the strange but true files. Rock & Rye whiskey
attracts scouts very well in the spring,  or anise and
syrup.  Often, scouts may ignore your bait, having
other sources more profitable, so I adopted strategies
accordingly.  Except for spring bee hunting, I now
prefer save the Rock & Rye for some better use, and
instead pull a frame of unripe nectar directly from a
colony to use as the reward.  By using unripe honey, I
am assured that this nectar is what the bees are
actively foraging, so is being what they are foraging,
locate it very quickly, and it competes with other
sources out there.  And by using the current nectar
source, bee hunting can be accomplished throughout the
foraging season, even during a flow, and your bait
will be competitive.

Best Wishes,
Joe
Feralbeeproject.com


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