48 deg. f. and Bees flying

[Ron Young]

Just went out to the hive and noticed a few bees flying (at 48 degrees). Some were even bringing in pollen from somewhere???? I would not have a clue where from though, nothing is in bloom here, and we have had several hard frosts.

I did notice one bee on the front of the hive that was sporting a mite on her abdomine. I hope that is not a sign of doom for the hive. In late September early October, a rough mite count only yeilded about 6-8 per 24 hour period.

[hummingberd]

Hi Ron-

I'm new to beekeeping. My bees have been doing same here in Southern Maine. There has hardly been a day that there hasn't been some activity! No idea where they would be getting pollen from. I'm wondering if evergreens could be a culprit? Just a thought!

[BjornBee]

I have very sparse dandelion here. Just a few here and there that come out when the sun shines, but enough that some bees are collecting. They have cleaned every partical of corn dust from my bird feeders, and one farm comments every year at this time about the bees raiding the cattle troughs for feed dust.

[BjornBee]

Forgot to also mention, last week I seen a full bed of crocus in town blooming. We had some 70 plus days last week, and these were on the south side of the home. Very unusual for crocus in December.

[suprstakr]

Bee's love crocus.Planted a bunch this yr for my ladies spring start.

[Hanginin]

Camelis's are blooming here and the girls love them when its warm enough to fly, In the upper 20's and low 30's here at night.

[db_land]

Almond trees are blooming in Raleigh. About 30 trees (6-8 ft tall, 2" trunks) were planted to decorate the entrance to a new housing development nearby. Pretty pink blossoms - will they produce almonds or are these some ornamental variety? :cool:

[wayacoyote]

You may be able to catch some pollen carriers and send their pollen to an agricultre school for identification...

Anyway, I'm interested in breeding bees that fly in cooler weather.
Waya

[Brent Bean]

Do you have any neighbors that have live stock or horses? They will collect feed from these sources. I have seen bees fly at 10 degrees on a sunny calm day. Only for a very short cleansing flight then right back in the hive.

[Fusion_power]

65 degrees here today and bees flying freely. I saw a few come in with bright orange pollen. No idea where from or what is blooming. The color pretty much says its pollen, not some wayward bird feed dust.

This is mid-December, we don't normally have weather this mild.

Fusion