Patent ID: 6896579

Claim:
A method for conditioning honey bees to search for a target odor at a search area comprising the steps of: a) moving at least one honey bee hive containing bees to a staging area; b) applying the target odor to the at least one hive; c) placing at least one feeding and conditioning means comprising food and the target odor near the hive; d) reorienting the bees to the at least one feeding and conditioning means for a period of about 24 to about 48 hours; e) moving the at least one hive to the search area; f) positioning at least one feeding and conditioning means proximate the at least one hive; g) feeding the bees at the at least one feeding and conditioning means for about 24 hours; and h) alternating periods of feeding and periods of starvation to encourage the bees to forage and identify the target odor.