Bees coming and going but no pollen on thier legs.

[steve62]

I am a new beek, I have one hive two supers for brood one on top for honey.
bees are very active lots of them coming and going. But I do not see any pollun on their legs.

fire weed is in full bloom I do not see any of my bees on it just bubbles

I live in Northern B.C. Canada we are having a heat wave right now mid 30's C
Oh high 80's F low 90's it has been hot for at least a week and no sign of letting up.

my thought: are they just bring water to cool hive?
I do not see them at the Lake 30- 40 yards away.
should I put some water closer for them?
I have angled the top to let in more air?

Is there anything else I should do??

thanks for any and all help.

[waynesgarden]

Nectar? I'm seeing very few bees bringing home pollen right now but they are filling comb with honey. I've read that bees get relatively little pollen from fireweed but lots of nectar.

Wayne

[afss]

only a nebie too, possibly they don't see a need for pollen right now and are only bringing back nectar and/or water??

[Hambone]

Hey Steve,

They are probably on a flow. But yes, some will be bringing in water to cool the hive. Your water source at 30-40 yards away and being a lake is perfect. I don’t know anything about fire weed, but they are most likely working it at a different time of day or working something else they like better right now. Try bee lining them from your hive and see where they are going. Sounds like everything is fine to me.

[BaconStreetBees]

Bees have something called plant fidelity. They will stay with one plant mostly when it is providing what they need. It may be that the particular plant they are foraging on right now is a nectar producer and not a pollen producer. Some plants are mostly pollen, some mostly nectar and some can be both. Keep on Beeking eh!

[steve62]

thank you very much Steve.

[steve62]

I do not know myself but I am told "from the guy I bought the bes from" that up here August is the best flow and fireweed is what the bees would be after.
I was also told it is very hard to winter a hive up here and that as it is my first year I should not even try. But there is a fall course on "how to" so I signed up, see what happens.

Thanks again Steve

[BaconStreetBees]

If you find a local beekeeping group, I am sure they will have knowledge about wintering in your neck of the woods.

[wcubed]

The details are described in Point of View, this site.

When the "main Flow" kicks in, the colony emphasis has shifted from swarm ambition to accumulation of reserve honey for wintering. Pollen reserves were accumulated before that time.



Walt Wright

[BaconStreetBees]

I certainly didn't know that much about beekeeping when I first started. Since then I have read more and learned a great deal from sources like this forum. It is my impression that Beekeeping 101 is for people new to beekeeping to get help and I am grateful for the experienced people who take the time to provide useful information.

[BEES4U]

You might consider checking the outside frames of the brood nest.

What other plants are in bloom with the fire weed?
You might find that the bees have collected pollen very early in the morning and stored the surplus in a rim just under the honey in the brood frames or in the outside frames.
What other plants are in bloom with the fire weed?

Good Luck,
Ernie

[steve62]

Everything is in bloom right now clover ,blackeyed susans, indian celery, fireweed.

[Loonerone]

we have black eyed susans and our bees are ignoring them.

I had this same question - and was told to go to the Hive Entrance posts - you can use search - there is a great amount of info on what you can tell about your hive by watching the entrance, including the pollen/nectar issue. Also - if you check, you'll see my post about no pollen - it was posted only a few days ago - and the answers.

It is wonderful that those with experience are willing to answer the same questions over and over - I have tried to use search now to get my answers before posting a new question and have found most of what I want to know is already on here, in the threads...

Good luck!