They found the bees!

They were just at a charity walkathon.

They left you a message. Didn't you get it?

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Hmmm. Actually this is interesting because, as a beekeeper told me recently, it's a sign of some sort of problem when a swarm parks in that sort of human environment instead of in a tree or park or out of the way place --- it's possibly another instance of the sort of confusion that may be part of colony collapse.

I spent some time with a swarm found on a busy Berkeley shopping street on Earth Day that had been there for three days, and when the beekeeper came to get them he showed me how normally once he'd put most of a swarm into his box, and the workers had lined up at the entrance fanning and dispersing the "come on in, this is home" pheromone, the rest of the bees would have quickly followed. These took most of an hour to all get the message and follow it, from less than a foot away.

By Hank Roberts (not verified) on 22 May 2007 #permalink

Don't worry I wasn't suggesting CCD isn't real, although I find the cell-phone link to be totally specious and part of Britains paranoia about non-ionizing radiation.

That's an interesting point though. I've heard stories like this about swarms for a long time, where suddenly they'll appear out of nowhere and freak people out. I was just being flippant though.

What I want to know is, how much money did the bees raise?