Douglas Farm

"The Apiary Inspectors of America (AIA) and USDA-ARS Beltsville Honey Bee Lab conducted a survey between September 2008 and early April 2009 to estimate colony loses across the country. Over 20% of the country’s estimated 2.3 million colonies were surveyed. A total loss of 28.6% of managed honey bee colonies was recorded.

This compares to losses of 35.8% and 31.8% recorded respectively in the winters of 2007/2008 and 2006/2007. While a decrease in total losses is encouraging, the rate of loss remains unsustainable as the average operational loss increased from 31% in 2007/2008 to 34.2% in the 2008/2009 winter.

Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is characterized by the complete absence of bees in dead colonies or in apiaries. This survey was not able to differentiate between verifiable cases of CCD and colonies lost as the result of other causes that share the “absence of dead bees” as a symptom. The 26% of operations that reported some of their colonies died without dead bees lost 32% of their colonies, while beekeepers that did not lose any bees with symptoms of CCD lost a total of 26% of their colonies.

Only 15% of all the colonies lost during the 2008/2009 winter died with symptoms of CCD, this compares to a 60% colony loss with CCD-like symptoms in the winter of 2007/2008. While losses from CCD may have decreased in the winter of 2008/2009, losses from other causes remain a significant concern. 58% of all beekeepers reported above normal losses last year, losing a total of 32.8% of their colonies compared to the minority of beekeepers who claimed a normal or below normal loss of 17%.

These findings emphasize the urgent need for research, not only of CCD, but of general honey bee health."

Source

American Honey Producers Assoc. National Convention:

"Around 600 people registered for the convention, and about 37 vendors. Seminars included “The Honey Revolution – Restoring the Health of Future Generations” with Dr. Ron Fessenden of Colorado and The Sierra Club’s “Working to Protect Pollinators” with Dr. Neil Carman of Texas, to name just a few."

"Three members of the National Guard’s Oklahoma Agricultural Development Team (ADT) attend: Warren Higginbotham, Crystal Sims, and Chris Shoffner. The three are part of a team of about 60 Oklahoma Army National Guardsmen who will take the agricultural skills and resources they’ve amassed to Afghanistan for 10 months of teaching and training outreach programs."

"'After every war there is need for an economic development program. That’s where our Agriculture and Development teams and Provincial Reconstruction teams come in. We’re focusing on implementing an infrastructure with agriculture,' Higginbotham said."

“These citizen-soldiers are literally sowing the seeds of peace in Afghanistan,” said U.S. Senator Kit Bond.

Full Article

Beekeepers around the country are preparing to make their migration to California for February's almond pollination.

"By 2012, the ARS expects almond-bearing acreage in California to top 800,000, a sharp increase from the 680,000 acres of almonds farmed in 2004. The increase has helped drive up the price of honeybees from about $50 per hive in 2003 to as much as $170 per hive this year, the agency reports." -1

"California is the world's biggest producer and exporter of almonds, harvesting about 635,000 tonnes [2009] and accounting for 80 per cent of global production." - 2

2010 Season Predictions

"With more Westside almond acreage being pulled out (due to water constraints) and with growers likely to cut back on bee colonies/acre (as some did this year) there may well be a "glut" of bees in 2010 (hate that word glut; there has never been a glut of strong colonies for almonds and there probably never will be).

Some almond growers are already telling their bee suppliers that they better make a significant price reduction next year. At Scientific Ag Co., Bakersfield the thinking is for a $10/colony reduction and telling growers that if they want to cut pollination costs, they are better off cutting back on colonies per acre." -3

Some farmers as seen on 60 minutes have mulched half their orchards due to water issues.  20 years of growth and devolopment gone in 20 minutes. Perhaps the decrease in orchard size will decrease the demand. It becomes a question of water and is the ARS projection correct. Persistant drought may require bees to be given sources of water. It may also cause more acres of Almonds to be mulched.

"A court order restricts water pumped from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to 220,000 acres of almond trees on the western side of the San Joaquin Valley, recession, falling prices for nuts, and the [limited population] of honeybees required for pollination. It all adds up to trouble." -4

However, some environmental media claims the water shortage is just a large corporate farmer ploy to get more water to farm water demanding crops in dry lands. They claim the farmer on 60 minutes actually is not a poor small farmer, but the owner of a multi million dollar farming enterprise. - 5

So, what is the best course of action for California. Who is telling the truth? Is there a wold in sheep's clothing? Clearly growing populations and farming bussines both need water. Plans and resevoirs need to be made to hold enough fresh water to meet all needs in time of drought. The control of the water flow needs to not be controlled by barons or corporate kings, and should be availible to all. Are water substities the answer, can we find a better way? Let's just hope we've learned over the years, and not have an old testimate, biblical water crisis.

Source:

1 - http://www.capitalpress.com/newest/TH-blue-orchard-121109-photos--infobox

2 - http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/article/2009/12/16/141721_horticulture.html

3 - http://californiafarmer.com/story.aspx?s=22848&c=9

4 - http://articles.sfgate.com/2009-03-01/business/17213067_1_almond-board-almond-growers-almond-trees

5 - http://www.alternet.org/media/144992/why_just_about_everything_you_hear_about_california's_water_crisis_is_wrong,_wrong,_wrong/?page=1

2 Great Videos to check out, 1st in 2009 - Where my Bees at?

Music Video Directed by Max Lanman Music Video Produced by Connor Lanman Original Song Produced by James Lanman Lyrics for Do The Honey Bee Co-written by Max Lanman, James Lanman, and Connor Lanman

[verse 1] What up everybody? What up? Whats good? The honey bees are here— straight from the hood, We only roll in two colors: yellow and black, We be getting no respect, and its getting kind of whack.

[verse 2] Do you know what would happen if we just up and went, Youd be floored by the facts if you knew just what it meant, yo, No more sweets, ice cream and no more honey, No more veggies and fruit naw--- that just aint funny.

[CHORUS] Lets get the word up and walk it out, These moves right here are what its all about, Shake your stingers and bend your knees, Get down real low and DO THE HONEY BEE Do the Honey Bee, Do the Honey Bee, Do the Honey Bee, Do the Honey Bee, Do the Honey Bee, Do the Honey Bee, Do the Honey Bee, Do the Honey Bee, Shake your stingers and Do the Honey Bee, (the honey bee) Shake your stingers and Do the Honey Bee, Get down real low and Do the Honey Bee, Get down real low and Do the Honey Bee!

[verse 3] Well people let's take a minute and think of where we'd be, now, Livin without the labor that be costing no money, now They buzz and buzz, and they go all day, While we be chlilin away, just eatin PB &J.

[verse 4] If the bees go, we got four years till we die, Einstein said that, and hes a pretty clever guy, Its not our style to go without a fight, We need to make it right and before the bees take flight, yo.

[CHORUS] Lets get the word up and walk it out, These moves right here are what its all about, Shake your stingers and bend your knees, Get down real low and DO THE HONEY BEE Do the Honey Bee, Do the Honey Bee, Do the Honey Bee, Do the Honey Bee, Do the Honey Bee, Do the Honey Bee, Do the Honey Bee, Do the Honey Bee, Shake your stingers and Do the Honey Bee, (the honey bee) Shake your stingers and Do the Honey Bee, Get down real low and Do the Honey Bee, Get down real low and Do the Honey Bee! [outro] Where the Honey Bees at? Where my Bees at? Where the Honey Bees at? Where my Bees at?

2nd 2008 - Bee-Boy dance crew drops dead

1. Baking soda is poisonous to ants, spinkle it around your plants to ensure ants will stay away. (But it will change the ground ph so use caution (blue berries will not like it).
2. Instant Grits, instant rice or instant cream of wheat can be sprinkled around plants or hives. Keep it dry, replace if the rain gets it wet. The ant will eat a piece of whichever you sprinkle, drink water and the grain expands and kills the ant.
3. You can use instant coffee grounds, chili powder, cinnamon, peppermint or black pepper. All deter ants and if you pour instant coffee grounds directly on an anthill, they will eat the coffee grounds and implode. Mint oil and hedges of mint will not be crossed by ants.
4. Flour & Baby Powder will keep ants from reaching your plants, ants will not cross the powder - so circle your plants with it.
5. Fill a spray bottle with 1 part vinegar and 1 part water and spray on plants. The acid in vinegar will kills ants.
6. Mix together one-third cup of molasses, six tablespoons of sugar, and six tablespoons of active dry yeast into a smooth paste. Use the mixture to coat strips of cardboard. Keep out of reach of pets and small children. You can leave mixture on a saucer outside anthill and they’ll eat it and die!
7. Fold contact paper in half, with the sticky side out and make a circle around base of plant. The ants get stuck on the paper - problem solved.
8. Cut off the bottom of a paper cup and cut a slit up the side of the cup and coat outside with vaseline and place around base of plant. You can also use packing tape.
9. Mix one cup of borax, two-thirds a cup sugar and one cup water. Dip cotton balls in the solution and place in areas near your anthill Ants will leave the plants alone and ingest the sweet mixture. The borax kills the ants. Use caution near hives.
10. Diatomaceous Earth is a commonly sold organic pesticide that will destroy the insects outer skeletons, causing the pests to die from dehydration. Use caution near hives.

A dark clowd decents upon the beekeeping industry, but this isn't a new swarm blocking out the sun as they search out a new home, this is death and absence.

The results from the NJ beekeepers winter loss survey indicates the death rate has doubled during the winter of 2008 when compared to the winter of 2007.

The Death toll rises in the EU. Pesident of Apimondia, Gilles Ratia states "with this level of mortality, European beekeepers can only survive another 8 to 10 years."

Death knell sounds for Europe's beekeepers

Read the full article here:

http://www.vancouversun.com/Technology/Death+knell+sounds+Europe+beekeepers/1538337/story.html

It states losses reached 50% in Slovenia and as high as 80% in southwest Germany.

Bees Against ElephantsThe bee method could save the elephants By Stefan Anitei, Science Editor

9th of October 2007, 06:52 GMT

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Bees-Against-Elephants-67949.shtml

This is not a cartoon joke: the Goliath of our days can be chased away by the same insects: bees. The giant mammals evacuate the place as soon as they hear the buzz of a bee swarm.

In the end, this could be their salvation. Strategically placed beehives could prevent elephants from raiding crops, decreasing man-beast conflicts when the pachyderms are killed. You can imagine that only one elephant destroys a corn field in just one night, that would provide food for a whole African family.

"If we could use bees to reduce elephant crop-raiding and tree destruction and enhance local income through the sale of honey, this could be a significant step forward towards sustainable human-elephant coexistence," said zoologist Lucy King at the University of Oxford.

There were many previous clues suggesting that elephants avoided bees. In Kenya, acacia trees with empty or occupied beehives are much less damaged than trees lacking hives. In Zimbabwe, a team observed elephants creating new trails to avoid beehives.

The African killer bees (Apis mellifera scutellata) from eastern and south Africa are notoriously aggressive and persistent near their hives and swarms are known to have killed even African buffalo.

To check the elephants' reaction, King's team recorded the buzz of agitated African bees.

"We recorded our bee sounds from a wild hive that we found inside a tree trunk along the Ewaso Ng'iro river in Samburu." said King.

The recording was played back four minutes through wireless speakers located inside fake plastic tree trunks to 17 elephant groups resting under trees in Samburu National Reserve (Kenya) during the midday heat. 16 groups fled within 80 seconds of hearing the buzz. In fact, 8 groups reacted in only 10 seconds. The group that did not react to the buzzing was made of young individuals, which perhaps had not suffered from a previous bee attack.

"When you first mention this idea to people, they usually chuckle at the images it invokes, as it seems so improbable that such a large, powerful creature like an elephant could possible be afraid of tiny bees," King told LiveScience.

But "the sting of an African bee is absolute agony to humans-believe me, I know!-so it's not impossible to imagine that being stung in the sensitive areas around the eyes, behind the ears and even up the trunk would be similarly painful to an elephant." she added.

The most important fact is "that whole herds of elephants moved away together from the sound. If only one or two moved away, the use of bees as a deterrent would only be partially useful." said King.

Using beehives could impede elephants from approaching farms "and therefore contribute to a safer future for both elephants and the people who have to live with them," King said.

Wolfgang H. Kirchner and William F. Towne two honey bee biologist. Have done some amazing work:

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/244/4905/686

Hearing in Honey Bees: Detection of Air-Particle Oscillations

WILLIAM F. TOWNE 1 and WOLFGANG H. KIRCHNER 2

Science 12 May 1989:

Vol. 244. no. 4905, pp. 686 - 688

DOI: 10.1126/science.244.4905.686

1 Department of Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, and Department of Biology, Kutztown University, Kutztown, PA 19530.

2 Zoologisches Institut der Universitat Würzburg, Würzburg, FRG.

Although the airborne sounds produced by dancing honey bees seem essential in the bees' dance communication, attempts to show directly that bees can detect airborne sounds have been unsuccessful. It is shown here that bees can in fact detect airborne sounds and that they do so by detecting air-particle movements. Most vertebrates, by contrast, detect pressure oscillations. Because all traveling sound waves have both components, either can be used in sound detection. The bees' acoustic sense appears to be sensitive enough to allow bees to detect the air-particle movements that occur within several millimeters of a sound-emitting dancer.

Submitted on November 29, 1988

Accepted on March 27, 1989

Mechanisms of food provisioning of honeybee larvae by worker bees

Christina Heimken, Pia Aumeier and Wolfgang H. Kirchner*

Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Fakultät für Biologie und Biotechnologie, Bochum, Germany

First published online March 12, 2009

Journal of Experimental Biology 212, 1032-1035 (2009)

Published by The Company of Biologists 2009

http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/abstract/212/7/1032

Although it has clearly been demonstrated in previous studies that honeybees inspect their worker brood in a non-random fashion, it is still unclear which signals and cues worker bees use to monitor the nutritional state of their brood. Here we show that worker bees can recognize and quantify the larval food present in a brood cell olfactorily and identify potential mechanical signals produced by the brood. There is no evidence for additional chemical hunger signals produced by the larvae. However, the pattern of movement of larvae within their cells changes with their nutritional state and might provide additional information to nurse bees.

The Sensory Basis

of the Honeybee's Dance Language

By by Wolfgang H. Kirchner and William F. Towne

http://www.beekeeping.com/articles/us/bee_dance_2.htm

For many centuries, naturalists have observed that honeybees tell their nestmates about discoveries they make beyond the hive. Nevertheless, the system of communication that the insects use remained a mystery until the 1940s, when Karl von Frisch of the University of Munich in Germany first discovered the significance of bees' dances. In the hive the steps and waggles of a successful forager correlate closely with the exact distance and direction from the nest to the resource she has discovered. For the next two decades, most scientists believed bees relied primarily on these silent movements to communicate.

In the 1960s this view was challenged in two ways. The first challengers were Adrian M. Wenner, then a graduate student at the University of Michigan, now at the University of California at Santa Barbara, and Harald E. Esch of the University of Munich, now at Notre Dame University. Working independently, the two researchers discovered that the dances were not silent after all. As the bees dance, they emit faint low-frequency sounds, and Wenner and Esch both suggested that the sounds might play a critical role in the bees' communication. The use of sounds, they reasoned, might account for the bees' ability to communicate effectively in the complete darkness that prevails inside their nests. At the time, however, many scientists believed bees were deaf, and so the issue remained open.

FREQUENCY RANGE of the sounds a bee can detect extends well below the range heard by human ears. The graph shows how fast the air particles near a dancer's wings must travel to generate audible signals. Within this range, the bees show an ability to differentiate between sounds having varying frequencies.

THE DANCING ROBOT successfully recruited its nestmates to food away from the hive. The experimenters placed eight baits around the hive and programmed the robot to dance concerning one site. Observers in the field recorded the approach of searching bees. Most of the robot's recruits went to the bait indicated by its dance.

Wenner later raised the second challenge to von Frisch's description of the dance language, rethinking his first hypothesis at the same time. Bees, he argued, use none of the information in the dances or the sounds. Instead he proposed that the insects rely on odors to find the new resource advertised by the dancer.

Now both of these debates have been resolved. Bees, it turns out, can hear, and their ears are well suited for detecting the sounds associated with the dances. Observation of how the insects respond to a robot that dances and sings like a live forager shows that both sound and dance are needed to communicate information about the location of food. Silent dances, the experiment demonstrates, communicate nothing, and sound without dance also fails. Odors too are involved but appear to lack the importance that Wenner ascribes to them. Beyond the resolution of these issues, we have also recently learned much more about the nature of the dance sounds, the bees' sense of hearing and the aspects of the dance that are most essential in the communication.

Read the full article:

http://www.beekeeping.com/articles/us/bee_dance_2.htm

DC beekeeper Toni visits her friend Charlie (Charles Brandts) at the White House - 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Click here to visit her blog post:

http://citybees.blogspot.com/2009/04/visit-with-first-bees.html

Here is a quote from the blog:

"To my mind, Charlie's queen is a good one for the job. The bees were extremely peaceful and gentle, and her pattern was OK, though not gangbusters. In a situation like this, I am all for the happy medium in terms of brood production! The drone brood was in the right place, she seemed to lay more from right to left than in a spiral starting in the center of the frame."

Not mentioned in the article are the two hive's genetic lines. They are USDA Russian and Minnesota Hygienic (Wild Italian). Both lines recived federal funding from the USDA for mite resistance research. A principal reason for their selection. You will notice on Toni's blog that it would seem the White House hives have already produced 2 swarms. Russian  honeybees are well known for high propensity to swarm.

People who have ordered nucs and packages are in the final weeks before they are ready.

So if you have old equipment you'll need to fix it now, there's no more time to delay.

Here's a helpful guide from the Master Beekeeping Program out of Cornell University.

http://www.masterbeekeeper.org/B_files/repairs.htm

Here is part of the guide:

When to Repair

When the fit between two hive bodies deteriorates to the point where you can see through them, you should be thinking ‘repair-time’. Even though pests may not yet be able to move freely in and out of the hive, the opening will promote robbing and will certainly make it more difficult to control robbing if it gets started (Fig. 1). Carry several good hive bodies with you when you work an out yard. If you notice a damaged hive body or if you split off a piece of wood from one while working your bees, replace it with a sound one, and take the damaged equipment to your shop for repair. When you are scraping your frames over the winter, pull out damaged hive bodies and store them for repair. I accumulate damaged shells until I have 30-40 that I can work on at once, and then I spend a day restoring and painting them. I use two basic methods to repair damaged hive bodies – the wood insert and the metal patch. 1. Bad equipment means robbing. The wood insert When the frame-rest end of a hive body is damaged along a substantial part of its length, I cut it off and replace it with a hardwood insert sawn from a block of well-seasoned white oak. The repair part is 16-1/4” long by 3/8” thick by 1-3/4” high, although you may need to adjust those dimensions slightly to fit your equipment. Since the repair part is hardwood, you have to pre-drill 3/32” pilot holes in it before nailing it in place, otherwise, you will split the wood. Begin the repair by removing all nails within 2” of the top of the shell on the damaged end. A nail puller helps if you have several shells to repair (Fig. 2). Next, remove the metal frame rest (Fig. 3) and pull out any remaining nails (Fig. 4). Scrape the frame rest clean, and double check for nails, unless you enjoy sharpening your saw blade. The shell is now ready for the table saw. You will need to make two cuts in the shell to remove the damaged end and to accommodate the repair part. One cut removes the outer 3/8” of wood along the entire 16-1/4” width of the damaged end. This cut is set 1-3/4” deep. The second cut is made perpendicular to the face of the damaged end, 1-3/4” from the top and 3/8” deep. These two cuts remove a piece of wood from the shell the same size as the repair part. If you have a lot of shells to repair, make all of one cut first, then make the other cut. This way, you only have to set your saw twice. The dimensions of your equipment may vary somewhat from what I have given. So, be sure to set your saw so that you do not remove any of the actual frame rest area. 2. Pull out nails 3. Then remove frame rest 4. Remove any remaining nails 5. Cut out the damaged area and glue in the replacement parts. 6. Nail it in but predrill the holes. 7. Paint replacement part and you're done Once the damaged end is removed, apply waterproof wood glue to the joining surfaces of the repair part and the shell (Fig. 5), then, press them together. Nail the repair part in place with 2, 7d galvanized nails on each end. Grip the repair part tightly against the shell to keep it aligned, then, drive in the nails (Fig. 6). Prime and paint over your repair work. The repair will last longer than the shell (Fig. 7). If the shell is damaged along a bottom rail, I use hardwood pieces cut ¾” wide by 1” deep. I cut them either 19-7/8” long (the length of the shell) or 16-1/4” long (the width of the shell). I pre-drill 3/32" pilot holes every few inches along the ¾” side, then, I countersink the holes to accommodate the nail head on a 7d galvanized nail. Begin the repair by removing all nails within 1-1/2” of the bottom of both ends of the damaged side of the shell. Set your table saw to a depth of ¾”, then, remove 1” of wood from the bottom of the damaged side of the hive body. Apply waterproof glue to the joining surfaces of the repair part and the shell, press them together, then, nail the repair part in place. If a shell is heavily damaged, consider cutting it into a shallow, or patching together two good remnants from two damaged shells. To patch together the halves from two shells, apply wood glue to the joining surfaces, then, clamp the pieces together. Drive in several hive staples along the inside surfaces of the shell. Be sure to place the shell on a solid, flat surface when hammering the staples into the wood so that the joint stays aligned. Orient adjacent staples at opposing angles. Keep the pieces clamped together until the glue is set.

Dr. Karl von Frisch is a well known honey bee scientist. Here is a biography of his works:

Source: http://www.animalbehavioronline.com/frisch.html

Karl von Frisch

Karl von Frisch is best known for two major discoveries about honey bees. First, he demonstrated that honey bees have color vision, and published these findings in 191*. Second, in 193* he showed that honey bees use a dance language to communicate food locations to other bees.

Color vision

His demonstration of color vision is simple and elegant. He trained bees to feed on a dish of sugar water set on a colored card. He then set the colored card in the middle of an array of gray-toned cards, as illustrated below. If the bees see the blue card as a shade of gray, then they will confuse the blue card with at least one of the gray-toned cards; bees arriving to feed will visit more than one card in the array. On the other hand, if they have color vision, then the bees visit only the blue card, as it is visually distinct from the other cards.

Figure 1. Grids for the color vision test. The training color, marked with T, is blue in both cases; all other squares are shades of gray. The left box shows how the grid appears to an animal with color vision. The right box shows how the same grid may appear to an animal without color vision. The training square appears to be the same shade of gray as other squares in the grid. If the test animal cannot see in color, it will confuse the training square with other squares matching its shade of gray.

This clever test for color vision can be applied to any animal which can learn to recognize a feeding station using visual patterns.

The dance language

Von Frisch observed that once one honey bee finds a feeding station, many other soon appear at the same station. This suggests that the first bee recruits other bees to the food. How might honey bees recruit help in collecting food? Von Frisch¹s discovery of the dance language of the honey bee required careful determination of the correlations between movements of bees inside the hive and the locations of feeding stations. He found two types of dance. The round dance (Figure 2A) causes bees to look for food a short distance (up to about 50 meters) from the hive. The waggle dance (Figure 2B) tells bees the direction and distance to fly to find more distant food sources. Scout bees use these dances to recruit assistance in collecting food resources.

Figure 2. A. Diagram of the round dance. This alerts bees to food near the hive but does not convey directional information. B. Diagram of the waggle dance. The tempo of the dance tells recruits how far to fly (the slower the dance, the greater the distance) and the angle of the straight part of the dance tells them the direction to fly. C. Because the inside of the hive is dark and the comb is vertical, bees make a convert the angle of the dance on the vertical comb to the angle formed by the feeding station, the hive, and the sun. A dance straight up the comb, as illustrated in B, tells recruits to fly towards the sun. A straight-down dance tells them to fly directly away from the sun. Dances at angles to the vertical indicate intermediate flight directions. The bees use their circadian clock to correct their dances for the movement of the sun in the sky.

Similar dances are used when bees swarm, to help the swarm find a new home. In this case scouts dance to direct bees in the swarm to hollow trees, caves, or other likely nesting sites. After a number of bees have visited each nesting site, a ³voting² process takes place, until one site (generally the best available location) wins out by having more bees dance for it.

Frisch, Karl von. 1993. The dance language and orientation of bees. Harvard University Press

Frisch, Karl von. 1956. Bees; their vision, chemical senses, and language. Ithaca, N.Y., Cornell University Press

-----------------------------

So my main problem with his identification work is he did not isolate out the honey bee's ability to smell. I have seen bees fly into my garage with the door only open 1 foot. They come inside scouting, following their nose (or their equivalent), while I have some exposed honey, beeswax, or even just sugar water.

This flaw in the testing along with research misinterpretation has lead many over they years to believe hive entrances need to be identified with a unique color pattern for bees to recognize their hive. I assert that is false.

Doug Fulbright (www.grit.com/Buzz-at-Windy-Ridge-Apiary/Buzz-About-Beekeeping-Equpiment.aspx) is one of the many who are under this false notion. Doug states, "I am going to paint the area above the entrance with a color. Research has been done at what bees recognize best by Dr. Karl Von Frisch. They also use these colors to recognize their own hive. The colors are: yellow, blue, orange, violet." 1st, Dr. Karl Von Frisch did not research what they recognize 'best'. He tested a color variation and vision. 2nd His research does not indicate they use color to identify their home. 3rd bees have a different visual range than humans. They don't see red like we do.

Florence M Rollwagen PhD. Reviews this here:

en.allexperts.com/q/Biology-664/2008/8/bees-color-vision.htm

Florence sites "Here is an approximation of what bees actually see:
www.monash.edu.au/news/monashmemo/stories/20070523/bee.html"

Let's review the cells of the bee's compound eye:

users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/C/CompoundEye.html

This article states there are about 8 cells in each ommatidium. 4 respond to green-yellow (544 nm) 2 respond to blue (436nm) two respond to ultraviolet light (344nm) no cells are able to see red.

Dr. Adrian Dyer of Monash University has found honeybees can recognize faces. They are able to recognize a face with a 30 or 60 degree rotation. These faces were not in color. www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20092701-18716.html 

This along with the fact that I have my hives squared in tight rows of ten that look like hedges with no color variations indicates to me that bees are more intelligent than many give them credit. If they are able to recognize a face they can probably recognize more. For example it seems to me they can identify their home is the third hive on the left in the second row. However if I remove this hive and put another in its place they will change their home to work the new hive now located where theirs had been. (This is useful if you're taking a hive to a fair and don't want foragers). If I turn the hive around at noon (180deg), they will still try to enter on the side where the entrance was in the morning. Clearly sight isn't everything. Foragers will tend to return to their take off point. Try to move hives after sunset and before sunrise to keep foragers. They will waste a few days doing orientation flights after each move, so don?t move them often.

They do not need you to rainbow color your apiary. Listen to you're bees and they'll tell you what they need.

Juan Antonio Perez-Sato1, 2, William O.H. Hughes1, 3, Margaret J. Couvillon1, 4 and Francis L.W. Ratnieks1, 5

1  Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK
2  Present address: Colegio de Postgraduados Campus Cordoba, Km 348 Carretera Federal Cordoba-Veracruz, Congregación Manuel Leon Amatlan de los Reyes, Cordoba, Veracruz, C.P. 94946, Mexico
3  Present address: Institute of Integrative and Comparative Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK
4  Present address: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, 85721, USA
5  Present address: Laboratory of Apiculture and Social Insects, Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9QG, UK

Received 18 April 2008 ? Revised 16 August 2008 ? Accepted 2 September 2008 - Published online 5 December 2008

Abstract - The mating flight is the riskiest period in the life of a honeybee queen. A major cause of queen mortality in apiaries may be the drifting of queens to foreign colonies. We investigated the effects of distance between hives, entrance orientation and worker activity on queen drifting. Only 4% of queens drifted in our experiments, all during their maiden orientation flight and all to the closest neighbouring hive. Neither drifting nor the length of time it took queens to relocate their hive was significantly affected by either entrance orientation or distance between hive stands (2 m or 5 m). However, queens took significantly longer to identify their hive and were more likely to drift when the number of workers at the entrance was lower than that at the neighbouring hive. Our results show that drifting can be low even when hives are placed in pairs with only 2 m between pairs, and that worker activity has an important role in guiding returning queens on their maiden orientation flight.

 http://www.apidologie.org/articles/apido/pdf/2008/06/m08048.pdf