>
>
>> >So this is obviously not navigation error (exception: neonics?).
>
> No pesticides in my area.  We marked 6000 bees in some hives collapsing
> from varroa/DWV and recovered the marked bees from other hives at distances
> up to
>
over a mile.  I will be publishing the results soon.

We found very large drift to a group of hives 500 ft away, substantial
drift to an apiary 1/2 mile distant, and some drift to 1 mile.  Of interest
was that there was just as much drift of bees from a healthy control hive
without varroa.

I'm as curious as you as to why they drift to distant hives.  I strongly
suspect that olfaction is involved.  I have no idea whether they simply get
lost, and drift to the odor
of hives upwind, or whether during foraging flights they investigate other
hives and don't get stopped by guards.

>
> --
> Randy Oliver
> Grass Valley, CA
> www.ScientificBeekeeping.com
>

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