Hardy girls

[Bumble Bee Slim]

Of my half a dozen hives ( all local mongrels and 2021 queens) one has bees that fly at lower temps., today being a good example, outside it is hovering around 6c and breezy, all bees tucked up inside , no flying except this hive which is active with quite a few bees taking to the air ,this is more than just the odd cleansing flight and I have seen pollen going in. The question is........is this low temp flying a trait which should be encouraged? I can see pros and cons but can't make my mind up.
Thanks for any thoughts
Dave

 

[Erichalfbee]

I have a couple like this. Fly when others are still asleep. I can’t answer your question but maybe see how they perform this year in comparison with the others; varroa and honey yield.
one of mine is a Buckfast and the other a mongrel.

 

[Curly green finger's]

I wonder are they In need of pollen because of brood rearing?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I wonder are they In need of pollen because of brood rearing?

lost me now,
bees fly because they can - doesn't mean they particularly 'need' anything. Good chance they have plenty stored

 

[Erichalfbee]

lost me now,
bees fly because they can - doesn't mean they particularly 'need' anything. Good chance they have plenty stored

Yes. I’ve seen a queenless colony stuff a brood box with pollen

 

[JamezF]

I'm slowing down in my old age. I just realised the title of this thread might have been intended to be a pun on "The Hardy Boys", and I completely missed it until now.

James

 

[Arfermo]

Of my half a dozen hives ( all local mongrels and 2021 queens) one has bees that fly at lower temps., today being a good example, outside it is hovering around 6c and breezy, all bees tucked up inside , no flying except this hive which is active with quite a few bees taking to the air ,this is more than just the odd cleansing flight and I have seen pollen going in. The question is........is this low temp flying a trait which should be encouraged? I can see pros and cons but can't make my mind up.
Thanks for any thoughts
Dave

They fly because they know what they are doing and why they are doing it. Suggest you ask them if you speak their language?

 

[Bumble Bee Slim]

I'm slowing down in my old age. I just realised the title of this thread might have been intended to be a pun on "The Hardy Boys", and I completely missed it until now.

James

Pun ? Afraid not, never even heard of The Hardy Boys until now.

 

[Bumble Bee Slim]

They fly because they know what they are doing and why they are doing it. Suggest you ask them if you speak their language

Alas I can't do beespoke.

 

[Finman]

I bet that your broud boys have found a neighbour's dead hive, and they are robbing remainimg winter food.

 

[Murox]

I'm slowing down in my old age. I just realised the title of this thread might have been intended to be a pun on "The Hardy Boys", and I completely missed it until now.

James

Good gracious James – the books were written from the late '20 onwards, more than 30 volumes I think. I can still picture some of them in my minds eye now that you have stirred my grey matter.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Good gracious James – the books were written from the late '20 onwards, more than 30 volumes I think. I can still picture some of them in my minds eye now that you have stirred my grey matter.

didn't they make a TV series in the late seventies - Hardy boys and Nancy Drew mysteries

 

[JamezF]

didn't they make a TV series in the late seventies - Hardy boys and Nancy Drew mysteries

That does vaguely ring a bell. I've never watched a huge amount of television though, so I can't be certain.

James

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

That does vaguely ring a bell. I've never watched a huge amount of television though, so I can't be certain.
James

I remember reading some of the books and I remember seeing the TV programmes advertised although I don't think I watched any of them, I'm the same, too busy as a youngster helping with the horses and cattle or with my canaries in the bird room

 

[Murox]

didn't they make a TV series in the late seventies - Hardy boys and Nancy Drew mysteries

Maybe, I didn't have regular access to television until '83 .

 

[Amari]

... or with my canaries in the bird room......

Still got the canaries? I had one as a child, others had budgies. Caged birds seem less popular nowadays.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Still got the canaries? I had one as a child, others had budgies. Caged birds seem less popular nowadays.

Quite right too. Birds belong in the air

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Still got the canaries? I had one as a child, others had budgies. Caged birds seem less popular nowadays.

No, just kept them for a few years, my grandmother's brother, my uncle David John had kept birds since before trhe first world war, he' heard I had an interest in bird keeping (I was always fascinated by his canaries and finches) he was approaching eighty at the time and his pneumoconiosis was so bad he couldn't make it down the garden to look after his remaining birds, so he gifted the whole setup to me. Just after my dad died a weasel or something broke into my bird room and killed all but one of my birds - even the ones in the big flight cage. We were in the process of moving at the time and I did plan on keeping birds at the new place but it never happened, life just moved on. I used to love my birds although I only had half a dozen or so pairs

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

It was a mining community so many kept cage birds, there were still quite a few serious keepers left when I was a kid, many, including my uncle had won prizes at the National cagebird show in London. One person (now dead, although his super duper bird room is still there to goad me as I pass the house) I knew not far from my grandparents was 'John Canaries' as well as keeping his own birds he supplied all the canaries for the mines in our division.

 

[robinharman]

Keeping cagebirds is actually very popular within the Asian community and one of my customers has recently given up being a helicopter designer to open up a shop specialising in them. Some really beautiful birds in stock see Login • Instagram.
Interesting fact - Geoff Capes once the World's Strongest Man and a neighbour of mine when growing up is now a budgie breeder and was President of the Budgy Association.