What did you do in the Apiary today?

Shop deals on ebay
Advertise with us
BS Honey Bees
Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum

Help Support Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Nuthin again. Still my pj's at 17:14 in fact. What the hel, I am not here to impress anybody - just to enjoy myself.
 
Finished OA trickle today.. 2 colonies less.. Avg 5-6 seams the rest.. Still not finished nutcracking.. Everyday catching with eye the pile of frames and boxes needing to get finished.. Not the mention bigger pile for repair.. Fondants will have start to make at least one batch next week.. Not enough time for all.. Ufff... :willy_nilly:
 
I quite like the old expression which talks about learning something new every day. Today has been a day in which I really did learn something new, about a plant which I have long regarded as a weed.

I imagine that many members of this forum have seen the website “HoneyBeeSuite”, by Rusty Burlew. In her latest entry she has mentioned plantains, which are very similar to the weeds I have just mentioned. It has been interesting for me to see this name “plantain” applied to a flat-leafed weed, because I know that there are varieties of fruit called plantains which are very like bananas.

Whatever the correct name might be for the weeds which are growing in the nature-strip lawn alongside the footpath in front of my home, I found that the bees which were visiting these plants today had pollen on their legs. Other bees were in the vicinity, visiting clover flowers in the lawn, but these were not collecting pollen. I know that these observations do not involve major discoveries, but it was interesting to observe bees which were collecting different resources in the same patch of ground.
 
understanding_bees said:
I quite like the old expression which talks about learning something new every day. Today has been a day in which I really did learn something new, about a plant which I have long regarded as a weed.

I imagine that many members of this forum have seen the website “HoneyBeeSuite”, by Rusty Burlew. In her latest entry she has mentioned plantains, which are very similar to the weeds I have just mentioned. It has been interesting for me to see this name “plantain” applied to a flat-leafed weed, because I know that there are varieties of fruit called plantains which are very like bananas.

Whatever the correct name might be for the weeds which are growing in the nature-strip lawn alongside the footpath in front of my home, I found that the bees which were visiting these plants today had pollen on their legs. Other bees were in the vicinity, visiting clover flowers in the lawn, but these were not collecting pollen. I know that these observations do not involve major discoveries, but it was interesting to observe bees which were collecting different resources in the same patch of ground.
Click to expand...
Plantain came up in my pollen analysis last season. I was equally surprised!
 
Moobee said:
Plantain came up in my pollen analysis last season. I was equally surprised!
Click to expand...
Always get plantain popping up in the front and back lawns and often see bees on them.
When we were kids we called the poppers - we used to pick them with as long a stalk as possible, then loop the stalk round so that we could trap the head in another little loop of the stalk, hold that firmly just below the head then pull the long piece of stalk which would then 'fire' off the flower head like a little missile
 
Checked the farm bees last week. They were fairly active and appeared to still have a good amount of stores, but I added a kilo of fondant to all of the hives nonetheless. The allotment bees had been a little neglected and I knew that one had not been fed when the others had been. As usual, they were beginning to worry me. What if they were starving? On Sunday we went over to do a quick hive-check. It was colder but there were still a few flyers. I counted myself very lucky to have donned a bee-jacket as I fed the potentially starving bees. The roof came off and I moved the crownboard, just a little to have a look at them and place the fondant. Wham! Before I knew it I had dozens of angry residents beating against my hood. They seemed very healthy indeed!
It has become a tradition to give out honey to each and every allotment holder on that site at Christmas. It took longer than the hive inspection. It's a sort of 'hearts and minds' exercise, that I have done for many years now, to keep everyone on board!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

S
What did I do so wrong?
2
Replies
25
Views
3K
MeAndMyBees
M
S
Fondant question
Replies
16
Views
775
jenkinsbrynmair
jenkinsbrynmair
Do224
Ticks…
Replies
9
Views
934
ceolsen
C
W
Store or lack of
Replies
0
Views
354
wightbees
W
M
Vermont Anti Neonic Bill
Replies
14
Views
661
Michael Palmer
M

Latest posts

Back
Top