Will bees use crystallised ivy honey?

[Erichalfbee]

A nearby source of water works for me. My lot are out water collecting from the pond edge in the sunshine. One hive has hundreds of bees doing orientation flights and others are bringing in early gorse pollen.

 

[mintmoth]

Thanks, everyone for the replies. You've reassured me that the bees will cope with it.
yes, erica and MM it was in the hangout section of Q&A, it was the "hardens like cement" phrase that got me worried.

Watching the bees in autumn leaving the hive for the ivy source gave me a perfect understanding of the term "bee-line" as they flew one after the other like tracer bullets down the same flight line.

 

[Nige.Coll]

Yes but may need water.

 

[Nige.Coll]

try to time winter feeding with ivy flow so it waters it down if that helps you.
Large ivy flow here every year I overwinter on brood and a half just in case.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Yes but may need water.

That's my take on the situation too. If there's a little condensation on the hive WALLS in winter that's sometimes enough. (just not above the cluster)

 

[masterBK]

So presumably a problem with poly hives which have less condensation so bees have to go out for their water supply with all the the hazards of flying out of the hive on cold days in winter and dehydration for those that stay inside?

 

[Gilberdyke John]

So presumably a problem with poly hives which have less condensation so bees have to go out for their water supply with all the the hazards of flying out of the hive on cold days in winter and dehydration for those that stay inside?

Your talent for exaggerated extrapolation is phenomenal
Keyword "less condensation"

 

[mintmoth]

try to time winter feeding with ivy flow so it waters it down if that helps you.
Large ivy flow here every year I overwinter on brood and a half just in case.

Does the sugar stop the ivy setting so hard then?

I did give them 2 litres of syrup in a rapid feeder in October, but they were very slow to take it down, even though some came up into the feeder almost immediately after I put it on. It took them nearly two weeks to empty it to a drizzle in the bottom, but they were busy whizzing back and forth to the ivy the whole time.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Would the bees necessarily mix the ivy nectar and the syrup?

 

[Swarm]

Why would they collect stuff they can't use?

 

[Millet]

Why would they collect stuff they can't use?

I was thinking the same, bees have been around for a good few years now so they must know what they are doing surely, that is unless ivy has just been invented over the past couple of years..

 

[user 6228]

I was thinking the same, bees have been around for a good few years now so they must know what they are doing surely, that is unless ivy has just been invented over the past couple of years..

wooden box hives are recent invention and as regards thermal conditions pretty radical compared to what was available in the forests. in a enclosure with properties similar to their original abode, i would bet they know how to deal with ivy. A poly hive is closer to a tree than a wooden box.

 

[Swarm]

Derek, they'll eat stored Ivy if they are in a plywood nuc

 

[user 6228]

Derek, they'll eat stored Ivy if they are in a plywood nuc

I dont doubt it.

I was answering some one who thought being in a poly hive would stop them, because they would be dehydrated.

 

[Little John]

wooden box hives are recent invention and as regards thermal conditions pretty radical compared to what was available in the forests. in a enclosure with properties similar to their original abode, i would bet they know how to deal with ivy. A poly hive is closer to a tree than a wooden box.

Meanwhile, back in the real world ...

Re: crystallised anything : I've fed my girls crystallised sucrose - hard as rock - during winter when fondant hasn't been available - they manage ok with very little waste. With my wooden BN hives, excess condensation forms and drips down the hive walls and exits via the OMF. But some condensation collects in the lug rebates and becomes a convenient source of water without the girls having a need to leave the hive.
LJ

 

[mintmoth]

Why would they collect stuff they can't use?

How do they know they can't use stuff if they've never collected it before?

Who's to tell them that nice liquid sugary stuff will set like concrete?

 

[Millet]

How do they know they can't use stuff if they've never collected it before?

Who's to tell them that nice liquid sugary stuff will set like concrete?

Mother nature maybe and millions of years of evolution.. ? .

 

[Swarm]

Mother nature maybe and millions of years of evolution.. ? .

 

[mintmoth]

Mother nature maybe and millions of years of evolution.. ? .

Nope, sorry, don't buy that. You are saying that bees have genetic knowledge of what sugar sources are good and what are bad.

Why then do bees go for any sugar source, such as, for example the French waste processing plant that recycled waste from M&M sweets?

?

 

[Millet]

Nope, sorry, don't buy that. You are saying that bees have genetic knowledge of what sugar sources are good and what are bad.

Why then do bees go for any sugar source, such as, for example the French waste processing plant that recycled waste from M&M sweets?

?

Yes a usable food source regardless of colour or origin, they sure do know what they are doing, do you not agree..? .