Honey Bee Pattern

I keep bees myself, Mike, as did my father and grandfather, and I try
to keep up with the research. There's amazingly little known about
exactly where bees mate - drones tend to hover in groups quite high up,
and they're not easy to research, especially when the Queen only mates
once. Bees are very unpredictable beasties.

I'd say there certainly isn't enough known to say that they 'never'
mate in a particular sort of place.

I don't see why it should only be drones that are taken. Workers only
have a life outside the hive of three or four weeks, and they generally
just collapse from exhaustion somewhere in the field. Bees need water
(it's important to give them a source,otherwise they may decide to use
your neighbours' children's paddling pool), and you have to provide
them with corks etc to float in the their water supply otherwise
they're liable to drown.

Having said that I generally keep my eyes open for honey bees wherever
I am, and don't remember seeing any on the water while I was fishing.
They tend to prefer stagnant -even quite revoltingly so - sources to
clean ones, and I don't think they'd like a nice clean trout stream.

Lazarus

Bees don't mate in the back seat of a 57 Chevy ?
Now something new to think about
"lazarus cooke" wrote in message
oups.com...
I keep bees myself, Mike, as did my father and grandfather, and I try
to keep up with the research. There's amazingly little known about
exactly where bees mate - drones tend to hover in groups quite high up,
and they're not easy to research, especially when the Queen only mates
once. Bees are very unpredictable beasties.

I'd say there certainly isn't enough known to say that they 'never'
mate in a particular sort of place.

I don't see why it should only be drones that are taken. Workers only
have a life outside the hive of three or four weeks, and they generally
just collapse from exhaustion somewhere in the field. Bees need water
(it's important to give them a source,otherwise they may decide to use
your neighbours' children's paddling pool), and you have to provide
them with corks etc to float in the their water supply otherwise
they're liable to drown.

Having said that I generally keep my eyes open for honey bees wherever
I am, and don't remember seeing any on the water while I was fishing.
They tend to prefer stagnant -even quite revoltingly so - sources to
clean ones, and I don't think they'd like a nice clean trout stream.

Lazarus