How far is the home range or distance that the foragers will go? I heard or read somewhere that it is about 2 miles. Is this correct?
Your sources have given you the accepted standard for faraging bees.
well i wish my bees would go the 500' necessary to find my melon crop.
I have read in several places that 2 miles is standard but up to 5 miles is not uncommon. All I know is my closest neighbor is about 1/2 mile away and my girls have had no problem finding their new swimming pool.
This is starting to cause a little friction between neighbors.... :(
I have a cow watering trough only 50 feet away and they were using it like crazy before the neighbors put in their pool. Any ideas on how to stop the pool party?
They are probably using the pool because the water is fresher. Watering troughs have a tendency toward stagnant water. however, Once they find a source of water the only way to get them to stop visiting it is to move either the bees or the water source.
Hopefully your neighbor has one of those above ground take it down in the winter kind that will cure the problem until next year. He as to learn to live with it.
People built garages in an effort to keep birds from spotting there car. If he wants to keep the birds and bees out of his swinging pool he will have to put in undersome kind of cover--like a dome.
Hi-tech
try one of those auto pet waterers that uses a 2 liter bottle but fill the bowl with small gravel to a point where the gravel just barely peeks out above water level. bees prefer not to get their feet wet. my guess is they can get to the water in the pool easier on the relativly rough plaster and grout of the pool easier than on the smooth galvanizesd metal of the cattle tank.
I agree with Doorman, we never had problems with cattle drinking out of a trough that has floating straw,... toss some in :? for the bees to light on, "They are probably using the pool because the water is fresher." I not sure if water that isn't changed annually and chlorinated is "fresher" When we keep cattle the turn over in water at the trough is about bi-daily, depending of course on size of trough and head count.
I think the bees need a landing area and to be retrained. A pool cover for 2 or 3 weeks aught to do it,... after all its time to close up pools isn't it?
:D
2 miles is pretty much their back yard. That's 8,000 acres. 4 miles is usually the limit for large cell European bees. That's 32,000 acres. Brother Adam (of Buckfast Abbey) says the smaller old English bees would go a mile further than the Italains, which is 5 miles wich is 50,000 acres. He said he knew this because the English bees used to make Heather honey and when he switched to the Italains they did not. The Heather was five miles away. Dee Lusby says the same of the small cell bees, that they forage five miles or so.
Obviously there is a point of diminishing returns where they burn up as many calories as they gather.
I think that most creatures find the easiest meal they can. If a suitable source of nectar is close to the hive the bees won't travel too far. Studies have indicated that when a hive is placed in a pumpkin field,the vines closest to the hive produce the largest and most numerous fruits. On the other hand if nectar is scarce,they will forage a much larger area. Why fly 5 miles for a meal when one can be had in a mile.