Beginning of the flow

[Aisha]

The girls are starting to bring in enough nectar for the frames to have some heft. Here are some of the first bloomers in my urban Texas landscape:

Redbud trees
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2413/2335406179_9451b3ddb3.jpg

Carolina cherry laurel bush (Prunus caroliniana)
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2278/2353878982_655d7cc92d_o.jpg

White field clover (Trifolium repens)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3127/2353879666_750ca23b2f_o.jpg

The girls work the pear and peach blooms, but they barely touch the Bradford pears. They work Mexican plum a little bit. Red maples too, but there aren't very many of them.

They don't seem to work mountain laurel trees, bridlewreath spirea, or columbine flowers. I hear they only get pollen from blueblonnets.

About to really pop in 5 - 10 days:

Black locust trees
Indian hawthorn bushes
Rusty blackhaw viburnum shrubs
Ligustrum shrubs
Wild daisy-type flowers (Coreopsis, black-eyed Susan, Mexican hat)
Poppies
pink primrose

Weeeeeeeeeeeeee! Here we go! :)

Happy Easter!

[Jeffzhear]

Pictures like yours get me going....when will this cold weather end! It seems like it is taking forever this year to warm up.....prolly just my anticipation and cabin fever driving me crazy!:)

[France]

I know how you feel. . . .
They are calling for six more weeks of cold and snow for our part of the world!

Don't know how it will look when it finally warms up? If it ever will. . . ?
Minus 30 - looks like forever and no end in sight.

At least we had rain about 3 times this winter. Hope that they were able to move after the food and get together again, when it dropped to 40 below C -over night...? :(

Happy Easter to all....

[Ravenseye]

Aisha,

In that first pic, the bee looks dark. Is it an Italian or maybe a carni or russian?

[jackalope]

D a m n you! :mad:

Picture of my beeyard taken last week:

http://inlinethumb45.webshots.com/31212/2295631600054863644S600x600Q85.jpg

That's snowshoe tracks BTW, this is what I had to dig through to get to the chickens:

http://inlinethumb42.webshots.com/40937/2347051040054863644S600x600Q85.jpg

:D

[Moeuk]

Hi Aisha,

You must be the envey of a load of beeks, with your girls out foraging.
Nice photos.
You seemed a little worried that the bees were not feeding on certain plants/trees.
These little insects behaviour is absolutly incredable when it comes to selecting what pollen grains they want.
They seem to instinctively know the best pollen at the time to collect, as we all know that different pollen gives a varied amount of proteins, liids, amino acids etc.
Pollen is the principal source of protein, fat, vitimins and minerals in the honeybee diet.

Have you ever thought - 'How do the bees know which pollen is the best for them when there is an abundence of flowering plants'?

I can't wait till I can get 'cracking the suepers'.

Enjoy beekeeping

Moeuk

[Aisha]

Aisha,

In that first pic, the bee looks dark. Is it an Italian or maybe a carni or russian?

I don't know. There is a beehive somewhere near me that is all black bees and I see them around a lot. I hope I catch some in my swarm trap! They are handsome bees.

[Aisha]

They seem to instinctively know the best pollen at the time to collect,...
Have you ever thought - 'How do the bees know which pollen is the best for them when there is an abundence of flowering plants'?

That always amazes me, Moe. Sometimes I think they don't like a flower, but they actually just like something better at the time and they will come back to it later. This is my first spring and I am excited to see what they really favor when everything is popping.

And the other thing that is amazing is how they distribute their labor force to send just the right amount of bees to the different forage areas!

[Aisha]

Picture of my beeyard taken last week.

[edit by mod]

If it's any consolation, I grew up in Illinois and I have spent many a winter knee deep in snow. Sometimes I miss it. There's nothing like a big fluffy snowstorm or the blue moonlight on a fresh field of snow.

[MapMan]

[edit by mod]

If it's any consolation, I grew up in Illinois and I have spent many a winter knee deep in snow. Sometimes I miss it. There's nothing like a big fluffy snowstorm or the blue moonlight on a fresh field of snow.

After this 100"+ season, I won't miss snow if we didn't have it for a few winters.

MM