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Highway between bees and orange groves

5K views 11 replies 7 participants last post by  jim lyon 
#1 ·
I know that bees can and will fly up to 2 miles to find forage, but does the noise and activity of a four lane divided highway prevent or limit their desires to cross such. I have some hives approximately 250 to 300 yards as the crow flies from such a highway. On the bees side of the highway there is some forage for them. Immediately on the other side of the highway there are acres and acres of orange groves. Will the highway cause any limitations on the bees from foraging there? Thanks for any input.
 
#3 · (Edited)
jrbbees...... I am going to have to disagree. All you need to do is travel Hwy 27 from Sebring to Haines City, during January and February and count the number of bees that smack your windshield and side glasses. Then multiply that by the number of vehicles on Hwy 27, and you will see that lots of bees get killed. Hopefully, yours, being 250-300 yards on the opposite side, will minimize the number that get killed, but, I would still expect that there would be some, if they are foragering on orange blossoms.

Granted, these are foragers, and they are at the end of their life, but, you will very likely lose some bees. The good thing about citrus is the bees don't have to fly great distances, they can go up and down. But as I understand your post, your bees are not in the groves.

If you watch closely along Hwy 27, you will find multiple places where there are pallets and pallets of bees, right next to the Highway, and yes indeed, lots of them get killed.

I am editing my post....... I believe I misunderstood the intent of your post, jrbbees, your are correct, that it will not limit them from working the citrus groves. I thought he was concerned about bees getting killed crossing the road. My apologies.

cchoganjr, (Park City, Ky, Summers, Moore Haven Florida, Resident,)
 
#4 ·
These hives are about 100' from the slow lane of 101, a four/five lane very busy freeway.

 
#6 ·
Anthony Ritenor. I don't think there is any question they will go to where the nectar, pollen source is, The highway is not a factor there, As to killing, you will likely lose some, likely not enough to be discouraged from placing them there, because, bees near orange groves produce a lot of honey, very quickly.

25 years ago when that area between Sebring and Haines City had orange groves on both sides of the road for miles and miles, a tremendous number of bees were killed, by me, traveling that route. Today, seemes like, there are more housing developments than orange groves.

cchoganjr
 
#8 ·
Another consideration of sites. The CSX (formerly L&N railway) railroad runs through Park City, and the track right of way is absolutely full of both white and yellow sweet clover, due I suppose to the lime from the rocks under the rails. But, not a good place for bees because they fly right into the trains. I had some there for a while, but not good. You could just watch them fly into the trains.

cchoganjr
 
#9 · (Edited)
Cleo, I agree some bees will be killed. But if they are starting from 250-300 yards away that is 2.5 to 3 football fields. That is long way and most of the bees will gain enough height they will go over it. Yes, some bees will die from "splat" but some will get taken by birds and other things too. The cold hard fact is that the foragers are working themselves to death.

Anthony, Most of the foragers in your hives at the start of the bloom will be dead in a couple of weeks. The key is to have a good healthy hive and a queen that is laying in a balanced population hive. Foragers die they will die from working themselves to death bring in the necter and pollen. From all these resources the hive will be cycle in new replacement personnel. If you are near the Org groves, the key is pile on the supers. You will lose some bees to "splat", but not all. Most hits will happen on the return trip when they are heavier and start out closer. Spend some time thinking about it and you will realize that you are not going to be able to change anything. The bees are going to go where the resources can be found. There is nothing you can change. Except to move the bees completely away from the grove. I don't think you want to do that. I would not worry about it in the least. The greater worries are Hive Thiefs(people), Mites, SHB, and having enough supers.

When bees leave a hive they start low and head off in a known direction gaining height as they go. 25 - 50 feet allows them to orient on their journey. That clears a car not a semi. They know where the hive is and they know the basic direction where they are going back to. But, when they are ready to return to the hive they are a little more disoriented because the have been changing direction while gathering whatever. To get reoriented they loop upwards, check the sun, check the landmarks and then head out. They do not start home and stay at tree blossom height, They go up. Height gives them the orientation data they need.
Orientation flights happen at the hive with new bees and any time a bee is leaving an area to go back to the hive. They are not dumb. The first thing they do when they leave a source is check where they are. That is the only way they know how to get back home. If you separate a bee from her known location the first thing they do is start to go up in larger loops. If that doesn't tell them, they start larger circles til they find their landmarks.

Have fun.
 
#11 ·
A lot of bees where right at windshield height as we drove near groves in California. Bees where hitting the windshield like rain drops in a thunder storm. I can't say they flew that height all teh time but there where on this day. and hundreds where killed by our car alone. Hives where much further than 300 yards from the road. the bees where just staying that low for some reason.
 
#12 ·
Trees, bushes, fences and the height of floral sources will force bees up but if it is very windy the bees will still choose to fly quite close to the ground so they may fly more efficiently. Some will be killed near busy highways. The extent of the losses is dependent on lots of variables.
 
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