-Old myths die hard, it seems the conclusion may turn out to be the branch causes re-orientation but isn't necessary. Thanks for the link, it's appreciated.
Thanks Joel, great discussion!
Consider this for a moment,,,
I have antidotal evidence that may suggest the foragers do not re orientate when moved short distances, with or without obstacles to aid them.
I once moved a 10 frame single off of my nuc stand back two feet. A few days later it was moved to the left ten feet. For more than two weeks, foragers continued to fly thru the exact point on the nuc stand where the colony had been, and make a very sharp 90 degree turn to the left and fly the 10 feet over when returning from the felid to enter the colony. It was quite interesting to see, and it was obvious that they new where the hive was, but did not re orientate to its location. Instead, they remained orientated to the old location that remained fixed in their memory by landmarks, and continued to use the old orientation as a starting point in which to find the NEW colony location This suggests, they did not reorient to the new location, otherwise they would have flown directly to the hive.
My nuc stand has a roof and a stand at 2 feet in height to sit the nucs on. It is obviously a profound land mark. Although the colony was moved and the scenery in the immediate area of the colony was changed drastically, this did not re orientate them. They still found the colony, but it was not a product of reorientation or overwriting the existing orientation of the old location.
I believe that the field bees will continue to fly back to the original location for the remainder of their lives in any colony that is moved these short distances, and probably they will divert from this course as they draw near to the original location. In the field, this might obviously go unnoticed by the beekeeper. But in order to illustrate this dramatically so one can visualize it, a hive can be fixed with a 4 by 2 long PVC pipe so that all the bees must travel thru the tube when entering or leaving. Let it remain in place for more than 2 weeks, then move your colony 10 feet leaving the pipe in the exact location that it had been and place a branch or board in front of the hive. If my observations hold true, it will reveal the bees will not reorient to the new location, but will continue to be orientated to the old location and fly thru the tube and then over to the new location.
[ May 14, 2006, 10:38 AM: Message edited by: Pcolar ]