The other morning I moved a colony in a three story nuc that I had trapped out of a tree. In the dark, at 5 AM, I coaxed about a dozen bees at the entrance inside with a little smoke and screened the entrance. There were no stray bees and no cluster on the hive stand. I moved the hive 6.6 air miles away and about an hour later found several hundred bees flying around at the original site. I'm puzzled. Could they return 6.6 miles? Were they out sleeping on flowers overnight and finally coming home at dawn, or clustered away from the hive because of the heat? Were they crack-of-dawn robber bees from the day before returning for breakfast? (No indications of robbing.) The tree entrance was completely sealed weeks ago. Any ideas?

Jerry in Utah

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