3mile 3 ft

[meetballuk]

how accurate is this?

i have been offered a apiary on a farm 2.5 mile away from my current apairy does that half mile really make a difference? or is it more like a 3ft 2 mile rule?
leaving some hives in current location any way
also has anyone raced bees like they do with pigeons? within a mile or so of hive? sounds like a great sport!

 

[clv101]

Not very accurate at all in my opinion. 2.5 miles should be fine.

 

[oliver90owner]

It is a rule that one might say is just about bomb-proof. I, being me , might say idiot-proof

There are clearly exceptions if you know what you are doing and when you are doing it.

You need to consider the actual situation and make a decision on that. Simple insurance, if you are leaving bees on the old site, is to ensure ona hive is placed close to the vacated space, so any returning bees will actually just be absorbed into the other hive.

 

[thebhoy]

how accurate is this?

also has anyone raced bees like they do with pigeons? within a mile or so of hive? sounds like a great sport!

I tried it but faced a few problems.....the rings on their legs kept falling off and then trying to hold them to pass through the time clock was a nightmare

gave it up

 

[itma]

...
There are clearly exceptions if you know what you are doing and when you are doing it.

You need to consider the actual situation and make a decision on that. Simple insurance, if you are leaving bees on the old site, is to ensure ona hive is placed close to the vacated space, so any returning bees will actually just be absorbed into the other hive.

Yes, "it all depends" with bees.

If your bees have been going over to the farm for OSR, they will know the way home.
If you are in a narrow valley, they'll range further along the valley.

And if the farm were in the next valley, over a big hill, you'd likely get away with it even if it were less than a mile away.


It is a useful "rule of thumb" - not an absolute rule.

 

[meetballuk]

basically 8 hives on one site allotment agreed only 2 with wife so little over buget. so just want to move 5 as 3 are mess and need to keep an eye on them.

thought it would be ok, seens i was leaving some

ill paint all the ones i move green and see if any come back

 

[meetballuk]

cemetery and just fields roads and towns. no big hills

 

[drstitson]

the europeans don't have feet and miles and manage ok. their canonical wisdom is 3 km.

 

[user 6228]

has anyone have the probability of return versus distance curve?

 

[clv101]

has anyone have the probability of return versus distance curve?

As itma suggested above, there are many other factors than distance. Bees don't just forage in a circle of a given radius. topography, distribution of forage etc affect where they go and hence how likely they are encounter old territory/flight paths from their new location.

 

[meetballuk]

spose ill find out

 

[drstitson]

obviously all dependent upon local forage and the terrain.

the sussex uni lot have some nice data from reading dances - when forage short the bees were heading a good few miles. (they ignored those indicating sources out in the channel!!!!!).

don't have a formal graph but nice italian summary here:

- da 0 a 1 km bottinaggio massimo
- da 1 a 3 km ottimo bottinaggio
- da 3 a 5 km bottina ma un buona parte viene usata dall'ape
- oltre i 5 km praticamente tutto quello che porta nell'arnia è perso

the von frisch graph here http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/V/vonFrischGraph.gif
suggests the dance message plateaus at 5000-6000m.

 

[Finman]

.

I have seen that 3 km is énough. = 2 miles.

And I use to move 3 metres. = 10 feet.

3 seems to be right. Never mind what quality it is.

 

[RoseCottage]

I wrote a piece on this question a while ago:

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=10209

Hopefully this will help you make your own.decision

All the best,
Sam

 

[Finman]

I
Hopefully this will help you make your own.decision

it is clearly said in all beekeeping books. No need to invent your own

 

[meetballuk]

very informative thanks guys