How to identify where your bees are foraging

[Hengest]

Hi all
First question on the forum - and not terribly seasonable but here goes.

How do you tell what your bees are foraging?

I guess I am asking as I am concerned about oil seed rape. Certainly OSR has been grown within a mile of my proposed apiary site in the past(not sure if its planted this year - I better have a walk round about and see ) and I am keen not to come to my first honey crop(ever the optimist) and find it all set solid in the supers which I gather is a real risk with this crop.

I am guessing that its about what pollen is being brought back to the hive but none of my reading so far as given any clue about how to identify sources.

Any help, pointers or reference suggestions gratefully received!

 

[Heather]

Always worth contacting the farmer if pos re the crops there. He will advise whether OSR. Once he knows you are a beekeeper they are usually helpful.

Give him your phone number too- to tell you if going to spray so that you have a chance to block the hive up for a few hours. Even if not pesticide - if the bees are foraging there a soaking will damage them.

 

[REDWOOD]

How do you tell what your bees are foraging?

Pollen is the biggest give away but even then some colours can elude the best of us especially with some garden varieties. You can also follow them if there is a flow on

Good luck with the rape but it will be over by the time you get your bees this year

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Obviously bees could go for any forage close to your hive, I think rule of thumb is that to be viable a mile and a half (they will forage further if they have to) and how attractive the forage is. Watching the hive entrance and observing the pollen sacks is a good way of seeing where they've been.

 

[pargyle]

I'm just coming to the end of my first year and it was a question that vexed me last summer ...

1. Get used to standing/sitting and watching your bees coming home - you will soon get to see the colours of pollen they are bringing in. If you compare these colours with a pollen colour chart (the best ones are printed but there are a few on the internet - you have to make some allowances for 'on screen' colour variation) you will be able to identify what they are bringing in. It's not easy at times but you will almost certainly get some help from the forum if you can't identify a pollen. The way they get smothered in some pollens and how they carry them can also give you a steer on what they are foraging on.

2.Look around your area .. you will soon get to see what plants/trees/crops/shrubs are in flower at any particular time and you can find a good list of 'pollen bearing plants' on the RHS website - which also tells you what season they will be in bloom. The web will usually help you identify most plants you see.

3. There are 'bee magnets' at different times of the year which you can expect your bees to gravitate towards if they are available. Tree pollens early in the year, OSR when it blooms, clover, heather, Ivy are all good forage for bees if they are in blossom in your locality.

There's little you can do to change what your bees feel is their 'best' option - as JBM said above - you will even find that different groups of bees find different sources of forage. It's that mix that makes the flavour of 'your' honey.

If you are inclined (and I'm not !) noting down dates and what pollen they are bringing in at a specific time can be a help in your future beekeeping. You can also look around outside of your area, this season, to see what crops are being farmed and approach farmers the following year to see if they will permit you to site your hives in the vicinity of good forage (field beans/OSR etc.).

OSR is a double edged sword ... great forage - but it comes with it's problems. But, if it's near your apiary you don't have a lot of say in where the bees will go !!

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Hi all
First question on the forum - and not terribly seasonable but here goes.

How do you tell what your bees are foraging?

I guess I am asking as I am concerned about oil seed rape. Certainly OSR has been grown within a mile of my proposed apiary site in the past(not sure if its planted this year - I better have a walk round about and see ) and I am keen not to come to my first honey crop(ever the optimist) and find it all set solid in the supers which I gather is a real risk with this crop.

I am guessing that its about what pollen is being brought back to the hive but none of my reading so far as given any clue about how to identify sources.

Any help, pointers or reference suggestions gratefully received!

The bees will bring back what suits them and oilseed rape makes an easy, plentiful source in their eyes so they WILL forage on it unless there is something else they prefer. Borage would be a good competitor for example. You can buy a pollen colour chart for a couple of pounds if you are placing an order with a supplier. Mine came from fragile_planet and has clear colours.
Others cope happily, even eagerly, with OSR honey and during its season the forum has plenty of info. Speedy extraction and creaming of the honey yield are popular handling methods frequently suggested.
An ebay Chinese refractometer for £20ish would be a useful tool in your box and find out if your local association can help with extraction kit.
Are there many areas in England that don't grow OSR nowadays?

 

[Hengest]

Thanks all for your helpful ideas - really useful..
I will invest some time wandering around the potential foraging areas and see whats in the ground growing - and getting hold of a pollen chart sounds like a good idea.
@ £20 a refractometer sounds desirable as well. Not even thought about the kit I will need at extraction time yet!
Cheers all.

 

[Heather]

There is apparently a new 'strain' of OSR that is much less use for a bee though.. Not sure why.. more modified c... probably. Did I mean crop?

 

[Cazza]

Pargyle's advice is jolly good.

I know where my bees have been because I know my local area and what is on flower through the year.
I can also watch them and see which general direction they are heading in. Sometimes I have then walked that way and found a pollen source I was previously unaware of. (A massive old quarry floor full of snowdrops was a recent pleasant surprise.)
When OSR is in flower, they will pretty much ignore everything else around.

Cazza

 

[enrico]

If you sit low down with a blue sky above your hives you will see which way the motorway of bees are coming in and out. OSR is distinctive. The bees will be covered in yellow pollen and often have a yellow patch of it on the front of their head, the same with late summer balsam but the pollen and the star are a whitish grey then, crocus is almost luminous yellow. It is good fun trying to find which pollens are coming from where, another real time waster on those lazy hot summer days!
Oh the time I have wasted over the years.
E

 

[MuswellMetro]

Thanks all for your helpful ideas - really useful..
I will invest some time wandering around the potential foraging areas and see whats in the ground growing - and getting hold of a pollen chart sounds like a good idea.
@ £20 a refractometer sounds desirable as well. Not even thought about the kit I will need at extraction time yet!
Cheers all.

There is a basic web based pollen guide on the Bristol site

http://www.bristolbeekeepers.org.uk/#


and the first paragrapgh of Pargyle's post is what i tell beginners, "watch, learn from your Bees"

1. Get used to standing/sitting and watching your bees coming home - you will soon get to see the colours of pollen they are bringing in. If you compare these colours with a pollen colour chart (the best ones are printed but there are a few on the internet - you have to make some allowances for 'on screen' colour variation) you will be able to identify what they are bringing in. It's not easy at times but you will almost certainly get some help from the forum if you can't identify a pollen. The way they get smothered in some pollens and how they carry them can also give you a steer on what they are foraging on.

!

 

[beeno]

Hi Hengest,
The most reliable form of knowing what your bees are foraging on is to see them collecting pollen or the beautiful photos submitted by the kind people on this forum of bees collecting pollen. Printed charts can be very misleading, as can be the fact that different 'variants of plants within the same familiy' (someone classify that for me) can have totally different pollen colours. However, the forum usually gets there in the end. You will have some real suprises in spotting pollen colours and don't automatically assume that they have been on mm's. Enjoy the forthcoming season!

 

[Magwat]

I have noticed variation in pollen colour of a plant from year to year. Most notable has been the rosebay willow herb - in 2011 a greyish blue, in 2012 a summer sky blue & last season deep royal blue.

 

[madasafish]

Try Google Earth for a quick look at all likely areas for pollinating plants.

Then extensive walking or cycling in season around the neighbourhood to see what's in flower - that's what keeps me in the superb physical shape I am in

Amazing what you can learn.

 

[pargyle]

Try Google Earth for a quick look at all likely areas for pollinating plants.

Then extensive walking or cycling in season around the neighbourhood to see what's in flower - that's what keeps me in the superb physical shape I am in

Amazing what you can learn.

And cutting that superb lawn with nail clippers I suspect .... we've lost the photos from the forum ...