flight range to forage

[Keith13]

how far do most bees fly to forage.  i have read so many different takes on this from 100 meters to six miles. what is the general consensus from the group?

[Kimbrell]

I have read in several places that bees will forage up to two miles from their hive.

[UtahBees]

how far do most bees fly to forage.  i have read so many different takes on this from 100 meters to six miles. what is the general consensus from the group?

2-3 miles radius.

[Shawn]

Ive read up to 3 miles

[Michael Bush]

According to Huber it's 1 1/2 miles.  According to Brother Adam it's 3 1/2 miles.  I'm sure it depends on the race, the cell size and the available forage.

[talkingamoeba]

Does terrain affect how far they'll fly?

[rdy-b]

If they have to fly over a mile they are burning all the surplus -just my opinon :lol: RDY-B

[Michael Bush]

Brother Adam insists when he had the English native bees that they flew 3 1/2" to get to the nearest heather and they would make heather honey.  When he got Italians, he had to take them to the heather to get heather honey.

Interestingly they often describe this as "the small brown native bee".  I think they were small cell.

Think of it this way.  The flight muscle on a bee is the same regardless of cell size, but the bee is not.  So you end up with a large cell bee with a small flight muscle.  Sort of like having a 3 ton truck with a four cylinder engine.  With a small cell bee you have the same size flight muscle and a much smaller bee.  Sort of like having a 1/2 ton pickup with that same motor.

[Brian D. Bray]

how far do most bees fly to forage.  i have read so many different takes on this from 100 meters to six miles. what is the general consensus from the group?

It all depends on the nectar availability.  During a good flow there is usually sufficient nectar sources near the hive to satisfy the bees requirements so they might not even venture past 1/2 mile in any one direction of the hive (RADIUS).  During a Dearth or Drought they might have to travel 3-4 miles radius from the hive.  At the longer distances the foragers die quicker due to the prolonged flights required and the return of nectar quantity to the hive is barely sufficient to keep it alive.  When foraging tips past that outer boundry then the hive will abscond.

[JP]

how far do most bees fly to forage.  i have read so many different takes on this from 100 meters to six miles. what is the general consensus from the group?

  When foraging trips past that outer boundry then the hive will abscond.

I have theorized that this was the case as I have observed several hundred feral hives located in close proximity to terrific nectar sources such as the chinese tallow.

....JP

[Jerrymac]

What ever a kilometer is  :-\

http://209.85.207.104/search?q=cache:aIONwEZqIMoJ:www.lasi.group.shef.ac.uk/pdf/rbeeimpr2000.pdf+Honeybee+forage+range&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us&client=firefox-a

In his book von Frisch (p. 66) also discussed other evidence for the furthest distance that honey
bees would forage. The greatest estimate came from Eckert who studied bees in the desert in the western
United States and reported that they flew up to 13.5km to the nearest irrigated area which was where
flowers were located.

[Trot]

What ever a kilometer is  :-\


A kilometer is  = 3280.839 8 feet;

A kilometer is  = .621 371 miles;

Or roughly:  One mile is  = 1.6 kilometers

[MrILoveTheAnts]

I've read 2 to 3 mile radius normally and up to 5 when food is hard to find.

[JP]

I've read 2 to 3 mile radius normally and up to 5 when food is hard to find.

This is what my little voices tell me as well.

...JP

[Jerrymac]

What ever a kilometer is  :-\

A kilometer is  = 3280.839 8 feet;

A kilometer is  = .621 371 miles;

Or roughly:  One mile is  = 1.6 kilometers

I was just being ugly. I don't like the metric system. Use to the other.

[Trot]

No harm done, Jerrymac...

It might come handy for those who do not know? :-D


Regards,
Trot

[Michael Bush]

Wow!  13.5km is 8.5 miles...

[Michael Bush]

BTW that's 145,267 acres.

[Jerrymac]

I was looking for this other thing I read a few years ago. Seems this guy had some place where there was a desert type place and then a green area next to it. He moved the hives further away from the nectar source. After 4 or 5 miles the bees would start losing storage. The bees had to tank up on food to fly to the forage area and would burn it up flying back.

Can't seem to find it now.

[Cindi]

Bees love to forage within 200 km of their hives.  During their lifetime the average length of travel is 800 km, then their wings wear out.  Be that over 45 days, a month, two weeks, 800 km, their wings are too frayed to fly, just a little trivia, hee, hee, have a wonderful and beautiful day, Cindi