My bees have been Tango-ed!

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AMAE

House Bee
Joined
Apr 13, 2010
Messages
125
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0
Location
Berkshire
Hive Type
14x12
Number of Hives
16
I'm stumped...the bees are bringing in basket loads of florescent orange pollen...and they look like they have been Tango-ed. Any one any ideas? I can't find anything similar on my charts..I'll try to take a picture but batteries flat at the mo.

Many Thanks
AMAE
 
I have Stephen Hardy's pocket guide. It's a very brief folded (smaller than) A5 guide but has colour ref 'swatches' and a rough flowering order, easy to leave in the tool box.

Fluro orange combined with season/date according to this guide could be:
Asparagus > good match to your description
Dandelion > possible / good
Apple > possible / good
Buttercup/Mustard > possible / good (might be a bit early for this)
Rockrose > possible (might be a bit early for this)
Copper Beach / Broom > possible but richer / darker than described
 
Thank you Rosti,

I had thought of asparagus...but it's been so cold my spears are only thinking of sticking there noses out! Fairly sure it's not the dandilions..they've been bringing that in for a while now. Apples...maybe but I'll put my money on Buttercups and a better guide.....

Thanks again
AMAE
 
My bees are coming home looking like yellow/orange powder puffs too, the broom is in full bloom and lots of it this year - if you have any near you that is what it will bee.
 
I have Stephen Hardy's pocket guide. It's a very brief folded (smaller than) A5 guide but has colour ref 'swatches' and a rough flowering order, easy to leave in the tool box.


Buttercup/Mustard > possible / good (might be a bit early for this)

One of my hives is on a hedgerow and the buttercups have started. Many bees are returning to the hive covered from top to toe in bright yellow pollen.
 
I was looking through some bees yesterday - deciding what extra supers I will need before doing some extracting. What caught my eye was one cell full of bright red pollen, almost in the centre of a super, otherwise chock-full of honey just awaiting capping. It just stood out as 'odd'. I wasn't surprised; they rarely do that as I expect more than I could imagine can happen inside a beehive......

Regards, RAB
 
Eureka.....It's Laburnum:hurray:

I've been keeping an eye on my Laburnum and have only seen bumbles on it. I have a field of OSR out the back so maybe they prefer that. I agree that the pollen is bright orange.
 
The bees have the best part of a mile to the nearest OSR, so maybe that's why they have done some Laburnum.....
 

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