Hi Paul,
Is that a dead mouse in picture 1?
Liz
On Thu, 21 Feb 2019 at 13:32, Oxnatbees <oxnatbees@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
All my hives are very active today and 3/4 are gathering plentiful pollen.
The colour looks like crocus or willow pollen. As I said before - there is
often a lag between city bees like Will's Oxford ones and the rural ones
like mine. I stated it was up to 2 weeks; Will first posted about the
Oxford ones gathering pollen 8 days ago, so maybe it's more like a week.
People often worry about whether their hives are "OK". I attach two photos
to illustrate how much hives can differ - the entrance of hive 3 is jammed
with activity while hive 1's has much sparser traffic. The photos were
taken a few seconds apart. In this case, hive 3 is a strong, established
hive with 2 boxes of comb and loads of stores and bees. Whereas hive 1 is a
colony that was only founded last year, and whilst it may have been a prime
swarm, its founding was followed by a nectar dearth so its growth stalled.
It only managed to get half a box of comb made before winter. But it seems
happy enough, and purposeful, so I think it is queen-right. If it gets
through to Spring it will probably build up to normal size over the year.
The point is, don't worry if your hive is dramatically different to a
neighbour's. What's more significant is sudden changes in behaviour.
Paul
On Wed, 13 Feb 2019 at 16:55, Karl Pattison <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
I’ve been helping the undertakers clear out their dead, using a thin
stick at the entrances. All three hives have been very active over the last
few weeks.
Bee Happy,
Karl
Sent from my iPhone
On 13 Feb 2019, at 16:24, Dawn Gosling <magikmum49@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
My hive is on its way and I had loads of bees on my carpet of crocuses so
that's a good omen
On Wed, 13 Feb 2019, 14:20 Will H <whanrott@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
The bees in the perpetual hive in Headington Hill Hall park were flying
at 1pm today -- 13th February.
There were flights every 3-5 seconds and I saw one bee land near me
which had dark red pollen baskets. I couldn't check that she was carrying
pollen but it seems the most likely. There were red Hellebores nearby which
I think were probably the source of the pollen
The flowers in bloom nearby were:
- Hellebore (half a dozen or so within 20m of the hive. Some were
red)
- Snowdrop
- Crocus (several hundred in flower within 150m of the hive)
- Mahonia (very few flowers)
- Lawn Daisy (very few flowers)
Pollen is usually a sign that there is brood in the hive. I can't think
of any other reason for collecting.
Will
