13th jan -Pollen coming in ?

[Buzzo]

Pretty sunny here in the south east. quite bit of activity at hive entrance-even a little pollen coming in ( beige-ish colour) !

cut to last year and no sight of them until Mid Feb.

whats it like elsewhere?

B.

 

[Arfermo]

Pretty sunny here in the south east. quite bit of activity at hive entrance-even a little pollen coming in ( beige-ish colour) !

cut to last year and no sight of them until Mid Feb.

whats it like elsewhere?

B.

Got a bus pass?

 

[Curly green finger's]

Bees collecting water and toilet duties here on the hills as usual
A friend sent me a video of his bees which have been very active but they are towny bees, I hope he doesn't mind me saying that.
Pollen could be snowdrops?

 

[JamezF]

-2.5°C overnight and didn't even reach 6°C at its warmest here today. My bees rarely get out of bed in that kind of weather.

James

 

[Parsonage Bees]

Pollen could be snowdrops?

Orange, surely. ? Hazel?

Today, too cold here but couple of days ago had to help one brave girl who crashed into the grass up to the entrance with her pollen load. Need every soldier! (I'm a bit soft it has been said).

 

[Curly green finger's]

Orange, surely. ? Hazel?

Aye

 

[Erichalfbee]

Bees collecting water and toilet duties here on the hills as usual
A friend sent me a video of his bees which have been very active but they are towny bees, I hope he doesn't mind me saying that.
Pollen could be snowdrops?

That made me laugh out loud. So your bees( country bees) are active and you have a friend with town bees and they are active too.
So they are just bees.

 

[JamezF]

You mean townie bees don't order their pollen online and have it delivered?

James

 

[Erichalfbee]

You mean townie bees don't order their pollen online and have it delivered?

James

No they are orange

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

You mean townie bees don't order their pollen online and have it delivered?

James

Haven't they heard of Ocado?

 

[pargyle]

Bees collecting water and toilet duties here on the hills as usual
A friend sent me a video of his bees which have been very active but they are towny bees, I hope he doesn't mind me saying that.
Pollen could be snowdrops?

Snowdrop pollen is more a browny red than beige .... We've got wallflowers in bloom and my neighbour has a large flowering redcurrant bush which is in flower - both are beige(ish) coloured pollen... But, if they are town bees there are lot of non-native exotics in gardens these days... winter honeysuckle is a another option.

 

[JamezF]

There's an organisation that runs a survey across Britain and Ireland in the first week of the year to count the number of native or naturalised plant species that are in flower (I don't know if that includes trees). Historically they estimate the figure should be somewhere between 20 and 30. Last time I looked, their provisional result for the first week of 2022 was 897, having been just over 700 in 2021 and just over 600 in 2019 and 2020.

Presumably not all of them will be suitable pollen sources, but I guess it means the options are widening quite considerably.

James

 

[Erichalfbee]

Bees don’t traditionally forage near the hives but in winter when they do get out and about they do benefit from planting near them. My colonies stand in a field of crocuses and snowdrops and certainly benefit. Yesterday the two overwintering nucs I have on the potting shed roof and the “wild” bees in the tree at the bottom of the garden were all over the mahonia.

 

[W0otz]

We've got wallflowers in bloom and my neighbour has a large flowering redcurrant bush which is in flower - both are beige(ish) coloured pollen... But, if they are town bees there are lot of non-native exotics in gardens these days... winter honeysuckle is a another option.

I can attest to exotics in towns - I've somehow still got snapdragons flowering in the front garden. Across a whole town there are probably all sorts of things to forage on, a lot that you might not expect.

 

[Bumble Bee Slim]

Lots of light grey pollen has been going into all hives this last couple of weeks whenever the conditions were favourable , strolling around the neighbourhood and looking for likely sources, I think it could well be Virburnum tinus .

 

[Do224]

Bees don’t traditionally forage near the hives but in winter when they do get out and about they do benefit from planting near them. My colonies stand in a field of crocuses and snowdrops and certainly benefit. Yesterday the two overwintering nucs I have on the potting shed roof and the “wild” bees in the tree at the bottom of the garden were all over the mahonia.

A bit off topic but just curious if your ‘wild bees’ survive quite happily all on their own or if you have to treat them for varroa?

 

[Erichalfbee]

View attachment trim.CE2F21D6-42A9-47FC-99FA-A3E223103205.MOV

A bit off topic but just curious if your ‘wild bees’ survive quite happily all on their own or if you have to treat them for varroa?

Can’t treat. Can’t get up there. The first colony perished. They sent out a swarm one April. I caught them.
Here’s the swarm. That’s all there was. I saw them swarm.

 

[Do224]

View attachment 29949

Can’t treat. Can’t get up there. The first colony perished. They sent out a swarm one April. I caught them.
Here’s the swarm. That’s all there was. I saw them swarm.

Was the swarm really small because the colony was really small or does it not work like that?

I like the idea of having a ‘wild’ colony in a box up a tree. Do you give them frames or just let them draw wild comb? How big is the box? Insulated?

It would be nice to see a colony surviving (hopefully) on their own like that. Do you reckon they’ll be ok for a good few years...indefinitely?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Was the swarm really small because the colony was really small or does it not work like that?

I like the idea of having a ‘wild’ colony in a box up a tree. Do you give them frames or just let them draw wild comb? How big is the box? Insulated?

It would be nice to see a colony surviving (hopefully) on their own like that. Do you reckon they’ll be ok for a good few years...indefinitely?

It’s ply sandwich with 50mm Recticel. It’s about the size of a 14x12 and a super. It has two cork size entrances. One in a top corner and one at the bottom. The bees use both in the summer and block the bottom one up for winter
No frames just an empty box. In retrospect I should have put some scomb support across the middle
I should imagine that little swarm was either a starvation swarm or one due to huge varroa load. Ie the whole colony absconded
Bees never cease to amaze me. They did their best to save the colony those few bees. Amazing.
I made a nuc up for them, introduced the queen in a cage and shook the workers out in front. She lasted another two seasons.

I should imagine varroa gets them every two or three years and the box is repopulated by another swarm. The first colony lasted two years then another swarm arrived the following year. They are still there two years later.

 

[Curly green finger's]

You mean townie bees don't order their pollen online and have it delivered?

James

Uber eats