rapid spring build up

[oliver90owner]

a good theory but nothing to do with practice.

But' Finman, practise proves the theory, n'est pas?

So which ones can you do without?

That's right - none of them!

RAB

 

[drstitson]

VM

"I don't think the Japanese flowering variety have much to offer (unless I've been misled"


Fair enough but

But i'm talking proper fruiting cherries, in the largest concentration of orchards in Italy (if not Europe)

NOT the pink and white ones planted along pavements of pre-war housing estates.

 

[Finman]

.
Australians have short winter. Soon after cold months many flowers start to bloom and bees are not as rapid to follow flooming.

So Australians researched is it possible to keep colonies on high level with patty feeding the whole winter. Answer was no. Hives got bad nosema for long patty feeding and they were in worse condition than with natural way.

 

[RoofTops]

Yes, I meant proper cherries, not the ornamental types. Apparently a single blossom can yield 30g of high sugar content (50%) nectar a day and a single tree 2kg of nectar a day.

 

[Finman]

A berry of cherry is about 7-10 g.

30 g nectar, - where?

 

[psafloyd]

in feb all i can suggest is pollen patties or such as neopoll or nektpoll pollen sustitute fondant and 1lb jar of 50% syrup per week

but i am not recommending this below as no idea if it works but this product is often on Ebay, others might have views or used it, could be fairy dust for all i know


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Honey-bee-kee..._Pet_Supplies_Bee_Keeping&hash=item19ba335c84

Looks like one of those lead replacement things you place into your fuel line.

 

[Eyeman]

My simple plan is:
Close off OMF and put top insultation on when first catkins are out and pollen being taken in.
Make sure they have enough stores.
Leave them to it.
The deciding factor is always the weather in our location.
Alec

 

[chrismcd]

Yes, I meant proper cherries, not the ornamental types. Apparently a single blossom can yield 30g of high sugar content (50%) nectar a day and a single tree 2kg of nectar a day.

Hi Rooftops, I would love to believe you because I have just planted a second cherry in my bee garden/orchard but I have always been taught that:

a) All the main top fruit species are nothing special in the nectar and pollen stakes.

b) Ornamental and double flowers are hard for bees to work

I have heard it argued that one of the contributing factors to CCD in the States was the fact that migratory bees forced onto a monoculture of Almond blossom, were malnourished and therefore more vulnerable to diseases and toxic residues ( and I am prepared to believe that Californian Almonds get sprayed more often, with more exotic compounds than just about any other crop that comes to mind)

Myself, I have fond memories of watching an argument between a beekeeper and a Top Fruit grower who had rented hives to pollinate his apples. The bees were flying straight through his orchard to work the field of Oilseed Rape on the far side. That was in 1970, before bees love of Oilseed Rape was as well know as it is today, but IMHO it is a reminder that bees are not great fans of top fruit if they have a choice.

 

[Finman]

.
I have some cherry busches in my garden but i have not noticed something special in foraging. The amount of blossoms is huge in cherries. the most popular tree during cherry blooming time is willow Salix alba. They are huge size and they are popular here. Second best is dandelions.

 

[drstitson]

think it was a simple typo about the nectar yield as shown:

"A single cherry blossom can produce more than 30g of nectar per day and an entire cherry tree almost 2kg.

The amount a single foraging bee will bring home with each flight can reach 40mg – about the daily production of a single cherry blossom"

 

[Finman]

.
The weight of a bee is about 0,10 g. full of honey a bee is about 0,17 g.

The biggest nectar amount I have seen in raspberry. Problem is how often bees visit in a flower. Does it have time to secrete new nectar as fast as bees visit.

Biggest yield I had last summer. The weight of the hive on balance raised 8 kg a day during best days. the biggest rise in Finland was 14 kg a day. But it was in July.

 

[RoofTops]

but IMHO it is a reminder that bees are not great fans of top fruit if they have a choice.

Cherries are the exception - producing much more nectar than apples and pears. But they have to be the right sort of cherry growing in the right conditions. I've seen orchards of them in Germany and Italy but not in the UK - but no doubt there may be some somewhere.

 

[wightbees]

There was a write up in our local paper of some doing very well for a local beek.
Something to do with the early weather made it perfect for the cherries .

 

[drstitson]

pollen patties

Having been reading around the subject and having just taken delivery of a large batch of Verm-X for our poultry i was wondering if rather than having the problem of emulsifying EOs for addition to patties one could (or if anyone has tried to) substitute a dose of Verm-X.

Main ingredients include:

sunflower oil
seaweed meal
Allium sativum - Garlic
Cinnamomum zelandicum - Cinnamon
Mentha piperita - Peppermint
Thymus vulgaris - Common Thyme
Galium aperine - Cleave
Capsicum minimum - chilli pepper

 

[Finman]

.
Don't forget to say loudly SIMSALA BIM !

I think that I try next broiler growth hormones.
Bee is wing cattle, isn't it?

 

[drstitson]

I'm happy to forget the hocus pocus but can't see why my bees would beenfit from a session at an aquagym!!!!!

ttp://www.simsalabim.fi/

 

[Finman]

.
Ofcourse you do. Try pizataxi too.

 

[drstitson]

finman

since google seems convinced that i'm really interested in "Pizza Taxi" can we make clear whether you're referring to the Finnish version of "Izzy Wizzy, let's get busy!" or a valid ingredient for pollen patties!!!!

Next thing you know we'll all be trying to source Oofle Dust for use as our preferred varroa treatment this coming year.

BTW would the aforementioned be acceptable to HH et al. at the NBT??

 

[Finman]

.
Very interesting.

 

[Hombre]

Whoops, I think that meant cultural phase shift recognised and was meaningless much beyond UK shores.

Chris B has bees on cherries. Good for the cherries . . .
= = =
SIM SALABIM? You have been watching too much kiddies TV Finman, a bit like the Sooty & Sweep fan club.