mj wrote:
....
OK but I live near where he took the bees in North Carolina
and I have heard nothing about needing bees for pollination.
I sure have seen a lot of them around here. I forget the
name of the town but it is a bit North of here on the
eastern side of the state. Not the coast but east of Route
95. Although there are crops, feed corn, cotton, and much
less tobacco this is mostly hog country.

there may be some kind of fruit or nut operation
you don't know about. some crops too may do better
if pollinated by honey bees.


You say they travel thousands of miles, does that mean the
escaped bees will find their own way back to Michigan?

there are very few "escaped bees". they move the hives
at night, after almost all of the bees have returned to
the hive. any left behind will die off. the queen is
the only bee that can make a new hive (or a mating flight
of drones and queen wanna-bees, but that's not likely
with a managed hive) or replenish lost worker bees.


songbird