Bee Owners Get Help With Game of Finders Keepers

Have you ever put something away for safekeeping, but put it away so well that you couldn't find it again? Then you'll probably understand how beekeepers feel when they lose entire beehives.

Some beekeepers take up to 50 hives into remote, rugged, out-of-the-way areas. They do this so the bees aren't exposed to insecticides used to control crop-damaging insects. In far-flung spots, the bees can safely go about making honey. The remote areas also protect the hives from vandalism.

Eric H. Erickson, Jr., an entomologist with the Agricultural Research Service in Tucson, Arizona, says he doesn't have an accurate count of how many beehives are lost each year. But one beekeeper told him that he accidentally lost track of an entire apiary consisting of nearly 50 hives. He had moved several apiaries during the day and when the sun went down, he dropped off the last one. He never found it again. That's a loss of 5,000 to 10,000 pounds of honey worth from $2,500 to $7,500.

ARS researchers came up with an idea to find these hidden hives. They use the Global Positioning System, or GPS, to help guide the beekeepers to their lost bees. Beekeepers used to memorize the location or scribble pencil maps onto pieces of paper, which might easily become lost. Now, they can buy a piece of equipment called a transceiver that translates signals from satellites to record the exact location of the beehive. The transceiver costs about $300. It helps the beekeepers keep track of where they're leaving the beehives.

Several GPS satellites about 12,500 miles above the Earth circle the globe every two hours. Back here on the ground, the transceiver sends a signal to the orbiting satellites, an electronic version of "Hey, I'm down here!" The satellites "compare notes" and determine just where "down here" is. Then, the satellites beam those coordinates back to the transceiver.

Beekeepers with a GPS transceiver can get their exact location on the planet's surface instantly, with the push of a button. The transceiver displays latitude, longitude, and elevation so the beekeepers can electronically log locations and move onto the next site. They can later use the stored information to retrace their steps in retrieving every hive.

Why do bees make honey? The process is a protective one similar to the inner ear's making wax. Honey is made to produce food stores for the hive during the long months of winter when flowers aren't blooming and little or no nectar is available A queen bee rules the hive and communicates to worker bees that they must keep her supplied with food.

--By Linda McGraw, formerly Agricultural Research Service, Information Staff

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