How can far a bee go and still find its hive?
Question
When you get a bee in your car and you drive 200 miles, how does it find its way back to its hive? Or does it find another hive? Or just die?
Blair, Dagenham
Answer
** Definitive **
Name: Tim, Kensington
Qualification: I’m looking into keeping bees
Answer: A bee’s range from its hive is around three miles. If it goes further, it is likely to die. It’s unlikely that it would be permitted into a new community. Bees don’t live that long anyway.
** Double definitive **
Name: Elaine, Beckenham
Qualification: My husband keeps bees
Answer: Our bees go within a three-mile radius of the hive. They can’t find their way back if they go further. If you want to move the hive, you have to move it more than three miles, or they may go back to the original spot.