Beeline
Encyclopedia
Beelining is an ancient art used to locate feral
bee colonies by capturing and marking foraging worker bees, then releasing them from various points to establish (by elementary trigonometry
) the direction and distance of the colony's home. Beeliners generally have homemade capture boxes which aid them in their quest.
Beelining was formerly a serious occupation in Appalachia
where it was a means to obtain honey
as a sweetener, and sometimes to capture wild colonies for domestication
. When a hollow tree (gum) was found, it often was sawed above and below the colony and carried back to be set up as a kept hive
near home. Honey was harvested from such colonies by "sulphuring," (using burning sulfur
) to kill the insect
s.
Feral hives in the USA are uncommon since the arrival of varroa
mites in the 1980s, and may represent an important, though small, pool of genetic resistance to the mites, so their value as potential breeding stock may far outweigh any small value, if destroyed for honey.
Feral
A feral organism is one that has changed from being domesticated to being wild or untamed. In the case of plants it is a movement from cultivated to uncultivated or controlled to volunteer. The introduction of feral animals or plants to their non-native regions, like any introduced species, may...
bee colonies by capturing and marking foraging worker bees, then releasing them from various points to establish (by elementary trigonometry
Trigonometry
Trigonometry is a branch of mathematics that studies triangles and the relationships between their sides and the angles between these sides. Trigonometry defines the trigonometric functions, which describe those relationships and have applicability to cyclical phenomena, such as waves...
) the direction and distance of the colony's home. Beeliners generally have homemade capture boxes which aid them in their quest.
Beelining was formerly a serious occupation in Appalachia
Appalachia
Appalachia is a term used to describe a cultural region in the eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York state to northern Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Canada to Cheaha Mountain in the U.S...
where it was a means to obtain honey
Honey
Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...
as a sweetener, and sometimes to capture wild colonies for domestication
Domestication
Domestication or taming is the process whereby a population of animals or plants, through a process of selection, becomes accustomed to human provision and control. In the Convention on Biological Diversity a domesticated species is defined as a 'species in which the evolutionary process has been...
. When a hollow tree (gum) was found, it often was sawed above and below the colony and carried back to be set up as a kept hive
Beehive (beekeeping)
A beehive is an enclosed structure in which some honey bee species of the subgenus Apis live and raise their young. Natural beehives are naturally occurring structures occupied by honeybee colonies, while domesticated honeybees live in man-made beehives, often in an apiary. These man-made...
near home. Honey was harvested from such colonies by "sulphuring," (using burning sulfur
Sulfur
Sulfur or sulphur is the chemical element with atomic number 16. In the periodic table it is represented by the symbol S. It is an abundant, multivalent non-metal. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with chemical formula S8. Elemental sulfur is a bright yellow...
) to kill the insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s.
Feral hives in the USA are uncommon since the arrival of varroa
Varroa
Varroa is a genus of parasitic mites associated with honey bees, placed in its own family, Varroidae. The genus was named for Marcus Terentius Varro, a Roman scholar who was also a beekeeper.-History and behavior:...
mites in the 1980s, and may represent an important, though small, pool of genetic resistance to the mites, so their value as potential breeding stock may far outweigh any small value, if destroyed for honey.
External links
- BeeHunting.com - A site devoted to preserving this lost art.