"Helicoptering" bees, a fun observation.

[Helmuthd]

I've had my hive now since july, and I always wondered why I would find dead bees in my backyard driveway so far away from the hive.  I always thought they lost their way back to the hive...

I figured it out (which i'm sure everyone else already has, but I had to share my story of "Bee-wonder")... The dead bees are being flown away by the live bees from the hive.  We started calling it "Helicoptering", because they look simmilar to military helicopters carrying jeeps and what not.  I think its real neat to see.

Today I marked 10 dead bees with white paint on their heads, and within 1/2 an hour or so they were being picked up and flown away.
Its taken them about two hours to clear away all 10.  The newer bees tend to just clear the deck and go straight into the grass below, while the older bigger ones like to carry the dead as far away as 50 feet from the hive....and sometimes right onto the roof of the house!   :)

I thought I had to share

[specialkayme]

My professor referred to it as "Undertaking" but yes, it's the same thing.

I'm glad you got a blast out of the learning process.