Amm

[Goran]

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showpost.php?p=317158&postcount=7095

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showpost.php?p=317186&postcount=7099

When talk about temperature - weather - forage.. Maybe can help.

Not the AMM, but.. honeybees at the end..

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Finman,

I think you are wrong about bees not foraging in the UK at 7.30 at night as mine are out there coming back covered in pollen and then out again early morning and temperature is nowhere near 15-20 degC (I wish )

Bees were still flying at 9 pm here last night coming back with pollen on them.

Over 30 hives in my home apiary and they were foraging up to about 9.30. not in huge numbers but still working away.

Nah - can't be so the bees I saw out at 0815 this morning were just the fairies coming back from their nocturnal meetings.

Bees don't forage after afternoon tea, and orientaton flights are a myth; it's a fact - the great Finny has spoken

 

[Shabro]

handbags at dawn!

 

[For want of a better word]

handbags at dawn!

the fairies coming back from their nocturnal meetings.

 

[Dared]

Haughton I did some digging about what is the definition used for amm and it seems there has been quite alot of research / dna testing done on early samples kept in various museums. So the datum being used should be accurate. There is alot more information on the Scottish beekeepers site if you are interested

 

[Black Comb]

The June edition of Beecraft has an interesting article on this topic.

 

[Finman]

Nah - can't be so the bees I saw out at 0815 this morning were just the fairies coming back from their nocturnal meetings.

Bees don't forage after afternoon tea, and orientaton flights are a myth; it's a fact - the great Finny has spoken

With your hive yields I would keep my mouth very small.

When did you last get 120 kg per hive? I have those hives every year and my bees work only in normal temperature.

In early morning nectar is so wet that they only carry water to the hive.


I waked up this morning 9:30 and out temp was 23C. Perhaps they were foraging perhaps not.
(what a high level discussion. Do bees really make poo every day= orientation flight)

.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

With your hive yields I would keep my mouth very small.

When did you last get 120 kg per hive? I have those hives every year and my bees work only in normal temperature.

.

Obviously with those yields your mouth is very big
But my dad's bigger than yours - so there!
And I bet I can P!ss higher up the wall

 

[Dared]

Finman unfortunately our average temperature is not over 20degc ! And we dont all want 120kg of honey from every hive! We keep bees as a hobby not a production line. I find it hard to understand why you dismiss everyone on here as wrong and only you know what our bees are doing? For the last 2 months I doubt our average temperature has been much above 10degc so according to your reconing no bees should be foraging?

 

[Finman]

Obviously with those yields your mouth is very big
But my dad's bigger than yours - so there!
And I bet I can P!ss higher up the wall

That is the way of thinking.

 

[Finman]

For the last 2 months I doubt our average temperature has been much above 10degc so according to your reconing no bees should be foraging?

I have not talked about "average temperature". They are foraging in boath countries. Otherwise they cannot exist.

If you do not want honey there, why are you so proud that they are foraging in low temperatures?

My temp is now 27.0. At night it is 10C. I do not know about average temps.

My hives are not foraging much because apple trees and dandelions passed.
Now we have a blooming gap and bext honey flower is raspberry perhaps in two weeks.

I took two hives to autumn rape 5 hectares. Perhaps too hot to rape and strong wind. There are bears in that landscape and I hope that they do not destroy my miserable hives.
.

 

[Cazza]

There are bears in that landscape and I hope that they do not destroy my miserable hives.
.

Blimey, and I thought deer were a pain in the bum.
Cazza

 

[Dared]

Not proud of foraging at low temperatures, it was you who said they don't forage at lower temperatures,that everyone was disagreeing with. I would think most of us want some honey from our bees but it is not always the main reason for keeping bees for a hobby. There are many reasons people are doing it, some are just trying to help the bees thrive here in the UK and have no interest in collecting honey.

 

[Finman]

it was you who said they don't forage at lower temperatures,.

They do what they do.
I do not call every flying "foraging".
But what they bring to home, is another thing.

Often they bring mere water in the morning to larvae. When you taste honey stomack it is dirty water. I have seen them flying even when soil is froze, I have seen bees flying during 50 years. They come out even in -15C frost.

Most of the summer they fly with empty stomack.


We have a main honey flow in Finland when soil is moist and there are 25C temperatures during one week. Then bees bring an average 30 kg per hive.
If temps are 2 weeks about 25C, then average yield rises to 60 kg.
If it is 3 weeks, then we can speak about 90 kg average yield.

If it is August, bees get nothing because blooming is over.


Our main yield starts about 20.6 with spring rape and rasberry and it stops when fireweed stop blooming. 10.8 is a date when you may take all supers off.