Finding Feral Bees

[watercarving]

Does anyone have any good methods for finding local, feral bees? I would love to give it a shot but I'm not sure where to start.

My dad said when he was a kid they used to find bees getting water and would watch to see which way they headed and would start walking that direction. I assume this may still be the best method but I was hoping there might be a better way.

[bassman1977]

I've heard of this method too.  Powdering the bee(s) or some how attaching a light piece of string or tinsle is supposidly a good way to see them better.

[watercarving]

Dad mentioned powdering the bees. Said it was easier to see the initial 'bee-line' when they left.

[Cass Cohenour]

Get a beelining box.

http://bee-quick.com/bee-line/bee_line_box.jpg

How to use one.

http://bee-quick.com/500/

Jim Fischer's father makes thes and sells them for about $50.
You can request one at;

[email protected]

I'll have a post on my blog showing how to use one to locate a feral colony within the next few months. I want to locate some feral colonies to place some mini mating nucs near to get some wild bee love going one. :)

[Michael Bush]

You can certainly beeline, but that doesn't mean you'll be able to get those bees, or even that you can walk across all the people's property to find them.

Setting bait hives is a useful method.  As is getting on swarm call lists with the local fire department.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesferal.htm