Bee Lining! It's a treasure hunt for a bee tree!

[@garrybrischke53]

Well done , I hope your efforts are rewarded .

[@julibottjen9047]

@garrybrischke53 I kept a close eye on the tree throughout the summer. Slowly the numbers dwindled til one time I went out and there was no activity. Not sure if the queen died or they were overcome by mites or disease. There were no dead bees on the ground that I could see.... it was heartbreaking to find it empty.

[@garrybrischke53]

@julibottjen9047 sorry to hear that . A cone trapout could have had a better result , we live and learn . Your effort and methodology to locate the colony was impressive. Better luck next time , merry Christmas from Queensland Australia 🇦🇺.

[@rafadiezdom]

amazing well done Juli

[@matthewmyers4500]

Well done and congratulations; I’m sure you will catch a swarm too! Good inspiration for the rest of us beekeepers.

[@julibottjen9047]

@matthewmyers4500 sadly I checked the tree a couple of weeks ago and the entire hive either absconded or died. I noticed over several weeks the number of bees dwindling, so I wonder if it was a queenless swarm that had moved in this spring. Will never know, now. There are still plenty of bees around, so I plan to do some more lining. :)

[@Sanblch_Istra]

Очень интересный эксперимент, хорошая работа. 👍🏻 Очень полезный материал , для любителей ловли бродячих роёв.

[@azartrus]

very nicely done. Any updates on the swarm box? what did you use to help plot the lines?

[@julibottjen9047]

@azartrus the swarm trap did not work this year- I took it down mid summer and then 3 weeks later went to see the bees and they were all gone :( Some suspect they were queenless, some suspect mite issues. Whatever happened to them, was sad not to see them there anymore. As far as plotting the lines, I took a visual bearing and also a photo of the direction they were going. Then I used Google earth to draw a straight line from the bee box to where I figured they were flying to, based on my photo and Google earth image.

[@HassanJaffery-i7k]

Nice video great recreation of the Bee box for Tom Seeley's design,however in my area I have been told that all honey bees were killed by varoa mites. Were u able to find honey bees where did u look?which flower?

[@julibottjen9047]

I found them all over clover that had been planted in the fields - they are European honey bees, from what I could tell.

[@Dimitri.Angelopoulos]

How did you mark the bees? Did you use one of the tubes that we use to mark queens?