Beeline

Beeline

Beelining (also known as bee lining, bee hunting, and coursing bees) 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 insects.

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.

References

*Donovan, Robert E. "Hunting Wild Bees", 1980, Winchester Press.

External links

* [http://www.beehunting.com BeeHunting.com] - A site devoted to preserving this lost art.


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  • beeline — (n.) also bee line, 1838, American English, from BEE (Cf. bee) + LINE (Cf. line) (n.), in reference to the supposed homing instinct of bees in the field …   Etymology dictionary

  • beeline — /ˈbilaɪn / (say beeluyn) noun 1. a direct route; the shortest possible course: when the meeting finished we all headed in a beeline for the refreshments. –phrase 2. make a beeline, to proceed swiftly and directly towards: *The no hopers always… …  

  • beeline — /bee luyn /, n. a direct route traveled quickly (usually in the phrase make a beeline for): The minute he came home he made a beeline for the refrigerator. [1820 30, Amer.; BEE1 + LINE1] * * * …   Universalium

  • beeline — 1. noun a) A very direct or quick path or trip. The children made a beeline to the swimming pool. b) A dynamite fuse made with a small quantity of dynamite powder along its length, so that the spark travels quickly and at a specific known rate …   Wiktionary

  • beeline — n. shortest route to make a beeline for ( to go directly toward ) * * * [ shortest route ] to make a beeline for ( to go directly toward ) …   Combinatory dictionary

  • beeline — bee|line [ˈbi:laın] n [Date: 1800 1900; Origin: From the belief that bees fly back to their hives in a straight line] make a beeline for sb/sth informal to go quickly and directly towards someone or something ▪ Rob always makes a beeline for… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • beeline — [[t]bi͟ːlaɪn[/t]] also bee line PHRASE: V inflects, PHR n If you make a beeline for a place, you go to it as quickly and directly as possible. [INFORMAL] She made a beeline for the car …   English dictionary

  • beeline — noun make a beeline for informal to go quickly and directly towards someone or something: Rob always makes a beeline for beautiful women at parties …   Longman dictionary of contemporary English

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