Bee Lining (without bees)

I had posted a month or so ago about some dark bees that were cleaning out some honey from some old combs. See previous post here. Now that there is plenty of natural forage everywhere, I can't get them to come back to a bait station.

They had flown off in a South West direction when they left before. I checked with the land owner of the first farm in that direction and got permission to tromp around looking for bees. Plenty of huge old cottonwood trees (some of them dead) that I thought might be perfect for a feral colony. My search turned up nothing. I even spent some time at the pond looking to see if I could catch some drinking and follow them home from there. Not a single bee.

It turns out that the next land owner in that direction used to keep bees commercially (at least his dad did) about 25 years ago. He gladly gave me permission to tromp around on his farm and instructed me that, should I find any bees living in the trees, I should "box them up and take care of them." He then gave me a bit about wild bees left to themselves would just get (and spread) disease.

Before leaving his house to check out the farm, he pulled apart an old bee box by the fence (3 deeps) that had been sitting empty in the back yard for years apparently. There was not even a bit of paint left on it. The bottom box had obviously housed mice for who-knows how long. All three boxes housed wasps. He offered me the frames if I was interested and then pointed out some cells that he said contained foul brood and said it might be best not to take them. He'd "hate to pass on the disease to my bees."

I didn't see a single bee on his farm either. Though I did find this:

And this:

Stacks and stacks of old hives, some of them complete with frames and comb.

Many had been mouse infested. Saw no sign whatsoever of bees.

I found it curious that he was worried about the diseases that the "wild bees" would have but he wasn't concerned at all about what diseases all this old equipment might be spreading. Especially when he knows the one hive had foul brood. I know of at least three of us beekeepers within a one mile radius of his farm. 

Very nice fellows, both of them. Gave me open permission to tromp around whenever I'd like. The weather wasn't the best on the 2 days I looked and it was rather late in the day so I might try it again on a nicer, calmer day and try to go out mid day rather than in the evening. Perhaps they were all at home just quietly buzzing in their colony somewhere and I missed them.

I still want to find those dark bees!