Robert E. Butcher ([log in to unmask]) asked:
 
>Does anyone know how fast a worker bee travels, when it is
>loaded and goes home and comes back ? I've tried putting a dozen bees in
>a jar and letting one go at a time, it didn't work for me. I'd like to
>mark a bee and see how long it took for it to come back to get more
>sugar and to find out where its home is. Any thoughts are welcome. Thanks
>for your help keepers of the bees!
 
   Consult the following reference:
 
  1963  Wenner, A.M.  The flight speed of honey bees:  A quantitative
approach.  J. Apic. Res.  2:25-32.
 
   If you can get access to it, I can mail you a copy --- if you provide a
mailing address.  That study appears to be the most comprehensive
available.  In general, an unloaded forager flying out from the hive on its
beeline travels about 7.5m per second, a speed altered only slightly by
wind.  By contrast, a loaded bee on its beeline back to the colony travels
about 6.5m per second.
 
   To learn about the ancient art of "Beelining," you can consult the
following up-to-date review:
 
  1992  Wenner, A.M., J.E. Alcock, and D.E. Meade.  Efficient hunting of
feral colonies.  Bee Science 2:64-70.
 
   In short, if you have bees visiting a dish of sugar solution and have
some marked individually, watch for the direction of the beeline toward the
home colony.  Then time the COMPLETE round trip time.  Multiply that time
by 150 and subtract 500, and you will know the distance to the colony in
meters (or yards).
However, you need to measure several round trip times and take the 3rd or
4th shortest time for your calculations (sometimes bees go away and return
before filling up completely).
 
                                                Adrian
 
 
 
Adrian M. Wenner                         (805) 893-2838 (UCSB office)
Ecol., Evol., & Marine Biology           (805) 893-8062  (UCSB FAX)
Univ. of Calif., Santa Barbara           (805) 963-8508 (home office & FAX)
Santa Barbara, CA  93106
 
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*  "...scientists are paradoxically resistant to change, even when    *
*  confronted with evidence that virtually demands change of them."   *
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*                                 Barber, 1960 (in Greenberg, 1983)   *
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