# Many Bees Can't find Hive



## LightHouse Lady (Dec 9, 2007)

Hi,
I have many bees, say at least 500-1000 in the summer. Right now there are a hundered or more out. The live somewhere in the three oak trees out back. I have tried to find out where their hive is (have you ever tried to watch a bee go back home? :hrm

Anyway, I would love the honey from these bees. Can I make or set out a "house" for them and would they use it?

I also want to encourage them to stay. I have several fruit trees and a huge garden, berries, etc.

Thanks very much,
LL


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## deaconjim (Oct 31, 2005)

Careful observation is your best bet. You can help yourself by placing something to attract them in two or three locations near where you think they might be and follow the direction from each location back to a common point.

Good Luck.


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

The best way that I know of is to use sugar water for bait. Get a pie tin or something similar and pour about a cup of sugar water into it. Soon the bees will find it. Notice which way they fly when they leave. The old saying of a 'bee line' is very accurate. Bees fly in a straight line. Take your pan and walk in the direction that you saw the bees go. Set it down again and put some more sugar water into it. Repeat.

This is not real fast, but with patience it works. It will depend on where the bees have made their hive as to what steps you would want to take when you locate the hive. Something to keep in mind is that bees can forage for quite a ways. The hive may not be as close as you think it is. Good luck!


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## LightHouse Lady (Dec 9, 2007)

Thanks, I will try to follow them again. Right now they are all over my chicken feeder. They love to eat that for some reason. 

So then, if I find them in the tree and it is too high for me to reach with a ladder and I am thinking that is true, these trees are 30-50' high; can I entice them to stay and live a bit closer to the ground if I buy a hive for them?

Thanks,
LL


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

LightHouse Lady said:


> Thanks, I will try to follow them again. Right now they are all over my chicken feeder. They love to eat that for some reason.
> 
> So then, if I find them in the tree and it is too high for me to reach with a ladder and I am thinking that is true, these trees are 30-50' high; can I entice them to stay and live a bit closer to the ground if I buy a hive for them?
> 
> ...


Only if the hive is moved into the beehive. The heart of a hive is the queen. Without her the hive is not. So the queen must be moved in order to move the hive. If the hive is located up off the ground quite a ways, I would recommend trying to hive a swarm instead. Bees mostly swarm in the spring during the honey flow. Have your hive ready ahead of time. If you haven't done so, go to the library and check out books on beekeeping. There will be instructions on how to hive a swarm.

Let us know what the situation is when you find the feral hive you are hunting and it will be easier to make specific suggestions at that time.


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## LightHouse Lady (Dec 9, 2007)

That is great advice and I will start reading up on bees. I have one question before I get the books and that is If I bought a queen bee would some of the bees follow into the hive or do they stay with their own queen for life?


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## marinemomtatt (Oct 8, 2006)

They LOVE their own Queen.
Sometimes a Beekeeper has to replace a Queen because the old one has died, or isn't laying well, or she's just too old. Replacing a Queen can be a bit tricky because the Bees don't recognize the new Queens scent, they see her as an invader and try to kill her, so special precautions have to be taken to get the bees to accept her.


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## LightHouse Lady (Dec 9, 2007)

Goodness. I guess I will have to get my own bees. Y'all are great. I will commence reading.


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## deaconjim (Oct 31, 2005)

Finding a feral hive is the easy part. Frankly, unless you're an experienced beekeeper the best way to go would be to start with a packaged hive. If you're interested, by all means contact some local beekeepers in your area (there is probably a Beekeeping Association nearby) and ask for information. Beekeepers are almost always happy to help a beginner get started, and they can help you avoid some expensive (and sometimes painful) mistakes.


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## wolffeathers (Dec 20, 2010)

I watched a video on how they collected a wild hive, it was quite a process. 

They first baited the bees with sugar water or some other attractant, then trapped several bees. They placed the bees into a special 3 chambered box with a couple of windows. They would release one bee at a time, then go in the direction that bee flew. When they lost that particular bee, they would release another and so on and so forth until they found the hive. They then cut down the tree. This took a team of 4-5 bee guys fully suited with chain saws. They sectioned the hive out of the tree searching for the queen. They tied as many of the combs into hive frames as possible, of course through out this whole process there are thousands of bees freaking out. So while, 2 guys are carefully searching for the queen, the other 2-3 are frantically tying combs to frames. The queen is found, place in the new hive and then the guys just take handful after handfull of bees and throw them into the box. After satisfied they had plenty, they sealed up the box and carried it off to it's new home. 

All in all? Just buy a bag of bees, it will be much, much easier. LOL


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

} Right now they are all over my chicken feeder.} If theres no pollen yet ,, in your area ,, they may be trying to use the chicken feed as pollen


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## LightHouse Lady (Dec 9, 2007)

Yep, I will get my own bees. I live near Palo Cedro Ca and they have places to get bees I understand.

The bees are eating the chicken feed... maybe 15 at a time. there is nothing blooming right now.


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

If your swarm selection is only 3 trees, should not be hard to find which one is hollow and has the bees in it. After that, you'll have to get other advice as to how to get the queen out and into a hive.

Many years ago, every hollow tree in the township seemed to have a swarm. Great uncle taught me how to beeline. Usually it was off the waste wax from the previous tree. Starting was sometimes confusing since there may have been more than one swarm involved. In one day, we go almost a half mile by moving the bait 100' at a time. Sometimes bogged down where bees might come straight down a small valley and do a 90Âº or sharper turn. If we stopped at just the right spot, there would be bees seemingly coming and going in all directions and then we'd try to figure out where to go next. 

Martin


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## BjornBee (Jan 17, 2011)

You can catch a swarm from the feral tree colony as most swarm every year.

If the tree needs removed or if there was a safety/health issue involved, then removing the feral colony is one thing. But for the vast majority of feral bees, they should be left alone. There is no guaranteed way of removing the bees without losing the queen or killing off the colony. (or killing the tree.)


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## Windy in Kansas (Jun 16, 2002)

Ralph Moody thoroughly described "lining bees" to find their tree in his book Fields of Home. It takes two people. 

I won't go into great detail, but you use a net to catch a bee and glue a tiny wisp of cotton to it. You then let the bee go and and after getting its bearings will fly straight to the tree containing the hive. 

A second bee a little further away is done the same and then two people follow the bee lines until they reach the trunk of the same tree. 

Moody also describes the process for smoking out and capturing the queen to move her to a hive.


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