I am a new beekeeper and have very little experience with the different
bees, however my interest in beekeeping came from reading an excerpt from a
(approx. 1940's) article on beelining (source unknown). After building a bee
box, which I'll try and explain the basics of, I was able to track two
colonies to their trees using the "bee line method"...
     The procedure is not complicated once a suitable box has been
constructed.   The box consists of two adjoining compartments.  I divided a
small box into 2 approx. equal chambers by taping a piece of cardboard in the
middle.   It's important to leave a small area at the bottom of this
cardboard divider which serves as a permanent opening or walkway between
chambers one and two. ( use your imagination here)  The first chamber has a
lid (hinge recommended for lid but I used cardboard and duct tape for the
hinge).  This compartment is used for catching the individual bee(s) as it
forages for nectar.  There is a second rear chamber formed by inserting the
cardboard divider and it is connected to this entry compartment.  The second
compartment has only one feature:  A small window ( made of heavy plastic and
duct taped to the box) which can be covered or uncovered to allow light into
the rear chamber when desired. We left an opening between chambers one and
two so we need to make a simple device which I'll call a sliding door  which
can be operated from outside of the box and will allow entry and exit (or no
entry/exit)  to and from the rear chamber, ( something like a 1" wide tongue
depressor with a rectangular door slot cut into it maybe an inch or so from
one end.  If the box used is 4" wide this sliding door will need to be about
7-8" wide. (The sliding door is inserted parallel to and in such a way as to
physically touch the (cardboard) divider.  ( I visualize the slide as you
might an arrow extending from each side of the box- yes it is a bit awkward
to handle but functional nonetheless).   The slide is operated from the
outside of the box..  When the hole in this sliding door is moved over the
permanent cut hole (doorway ) between the chambers,  a walkway is created.
Conversely, when the two holes are out of alignment and not properly
overlaid, there is no entry from one chamber to another. Once the principles
of beelining are understood, it's a simple matter to construct a bee box of
suitable nature.  Apparently just about any shape or size will work.
Experiment.  My first box was made in about 15 minutes and consisted of one
"hot cereal" box which is about 6"L by 4"W by 3" tall, some mostly clear
plastic sheeting (4ml) (2"x2") for the window and some duct tape..  To
complete the process of bee lining, you will also need sugar syrup as bait,
some sort of small dish to feed the bees from, and a little patience..
     Here's the method I used successfully to track two colonies  in a very
short two days effort:.
 A single bee is captured by placing the box under the foraging bee and
gently closing the lid over her.   She is encouraged to enter the rear
compartment by first aligning the two slots opening the doorway.  The rear
window is uncovered ( or opened ) so light enters the rear compartment. The
bee moves toward the light and will soon be seen buzzing around the window in
the rear compartment.  Once the bee is in the rear chamber, close the door.
She is captured there by moving the door slide out of alignment with the
permanent door opening.  NOTE- beelining can be done with only one bee, but a
few 4-5 would be preferable.  Catch a second, third, fourth, etc. by the same
technique.  Trap in the front compartment, open the rear window for light,
and open the slide  for bees to gather in the lighted rear compartment.
Close door and repeat for each bee...
   If you've followed me so far,  we have one to several bees trapped in our
rear chamber.   Now we need to feed them..  With the door between the
chambers CLOSED, open the hinged lid to the front compartment and insert a
tiny container which will hold sugar syrup (I used a chunk of wax hollowed
out to form a serving dish.  This dish must be small enough to fit easily
inside the front compartment, yet large enough to hold several eyedroppers of
syrup.  The bees don't seem to care what kind of dishes they are served on.
Several eyedroppers full of sugar syrup might be enough to get them "running
the line"..  Close the hinged lid of compartment one and open the sliding
door making a  passageway for the bees to access the food in chamber one..
Leave the bees there for 3-5 minutes before opening.  If all goes well,  when
you open the hinged lid on the front chamber, at least a couple of the bees
will be seen bending over the dishes loading up on what must seem to be a
free meal.  Once a bee has loaded, she will leave, fly off to the colony and
report her good news and should within 10 minutes return for a second load.
Usually she brings a friend or two with her to share in her find.   To make a
long story short,  within 20-30 minutes depending upon the distance to the
hive many bees will now be loading, leaving, and returning with more
friends..  At this point, you need to regularly replenish the sugar syrup
source in the front chamber. Once a rousing line starts (maybe a couple of
hundred bees will get involved),  it becomes possible to see a general
direction that the bees use when leaving.  The first few trips it's very
difficult to see a line because the bees are cautious when arriving and
departing.  After a few minutes of what appears to be confused circling,
however, it becomes apparent in which general direction the bees are
traveling.  Once you have a general idea of direction, we are ready for move
#1.
     Move #1 consists of first capturing as many bees as possible in the bee
box and then moving the entire setup in the direction of this estimated line.
 To capture the bees which are now gobbling up sugar syrup like crazy from
within the bee box is a simple matter of closing the hinged lid, and like
before using light from the rear compartment to coax the critters into the
rear chamber after which the door slide is shut behind them.  Capture some
more in the front chamber and repeat the process of trapping them in the rear
compartment until a substantial # of bees is captured.  (20-30) foraging
feeding bees is enough to make a move....  Once the bees are in the rear
compartment, we move up the estimated line a couple hundred yards and set up
again..  This consists of refilling the syrup container in the front
compartment FIRST and then shutting the hinged lid  BEFORE releasing the bees
from the rear  compartment.  The bees will now fill up and in 3-5 minutes can
be allowed to fly home from this new location when you open the hinged lid..
The line will start again and this time (since we've gone in the direction of
the hive we hope) things happen much quicker.  The bees return quicker from
each load and bring more friends each trip.  It's important to keep the bees
dish/container full and they will consume lots of syrup in a short while..
   The point here is to again pay attention to the direction in general
that the bees leave.  Once they are comfortable with the new site ( a
couple of minutes at most) they will pretty much "bee line"  it home.  Once
the estimated line is established,  we are ready for Moves 2,3,4 and as many
as need be until the hive is located.  With each move ( which should be
shorter moves the closer we get to the hive) we should get closer to the
actual colony and the increasing numbers of bees makes it easier to determine
the "bee line".
    At a point in time one of 2 things will happen.  First off we will
simply see where the bees are flying to (most likely it will take a bit of
looking even when close- just keep watching the estimated direction) OR two,
the bees will do something really odd.  They may seem to be going in the
direction from which you just came (in which case you can be assured that you
have gone past the hive) and you should go back somewhere on the line between
where you last set up and this point (past the hive and too far up line)...
   It's confusing without a diagram I admit to build the box.  I have plans
for a simple bee box here as well as a short detailed description of the
above, but I do not have a way to scan into the computer at this time.
However,  If you would be interested in getting a copy, I'll try and work
something out from this end...  E-Mail me for more details...
   Note- No self respecting bee would think to sting the hand of a generous
beekeeper feeding them such wonderful sugar syrup, and there is no worry
whatsoever of getting stung while "lining"..  I can not believe the same case
will come should you decide to rob the nest..  I think swarm traps and
pheromone lures are appropriate ways to catch a swarm from and not destroy a
healthy colony or tree.... ---------- >
 
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