Returning to Hive without pollen??

[capebee]

I notice a lot of bees returning to the hive without being loaded with pollen.
What do they do "out there in the world" if they're not gathering pollen to bring
back to the hive? I was just out there looking at them (1pm here) and didn't really
see any bees returning with pollen.... just curious. Thanks

[JRG13]

water, nectar, scouting, or coming back from cleansing flight or orientation flight.

[mrobinson]

Never try to "micro-manage" bees. They are the Ancient Ones.

[Clairesmom]

The bees will gather nectar or pollen, but not both on the same trip. They might also be bringing in water.

[capebee]

thank you all for the replies. I didn't consider the nectar gathering. I guess you wouldn't
notice that they are returning with nectar in the same way you'd notice they are returning with
pollen (the pollen being noticeable on their bodies)......

[Daniel Y]

I didn't know they only gather one or the other. I was watching a lot of bees the other day on different flowers. some plants have tiny flowers that don't seem to get a lot of pollen on the bees. BUt limited ability to carry a load makes since that they concentrate on one or the other. I have tons of bees coming and going but not a lot of them carry pollen right now.

[Michael Bush]

In this heat, water is likely. If it wasn't so hot, nectar would be just as likely...

[JD's Bees]

Some bees will gather both pollen and nectar on the same trip. Noticed a bee yesterday working clover which has brown pollen yet she had large loads of yellowish orange pollen from sow thistle.

[Keth Comollo]

Noticed a sharp drop off in pollen intake on my hives in the last week. I can only guess the heavy rains washed a lot of it away. The pond at the end of my street is yellow. Should rebound with the warm dry weather predicted.

[BeeCurious]

snip
I guess you wouldn't notice that they are returning with nectar in the same way you'd notice they are returning with pollen (the pollen being noticeable on their bodies)......

And returning full of nectar or water wouldn't be the same as a robber approaching the hive. I recently came across this: " Now a flying bee with empty honey sac flies with legs extended behind, whereas a loaded bee bends the hind legs to bring them forward."

[capebee]

Many of our flowers as well as clover have dried up here so I'm not seeing as much
pollen laden bees returning. However today I did notice a lot of bees on a flowering
weed (we call them "milk weed" and I'm not sure what the real name for them is)....
see attached.
On another note... we had a little taste of some honey from our hive on a spoon. Being new bees we'd not
tasted fresh honey before. Pretty incredible!!

[Keth Comollo]

Yep, that is Milkweed. Bees love it!

[Wickedlees]

I'm so glad I came across your post! I was just thinking the same thing, but we have had VERY dry weather here in CO, I noticed many of my bees are coming back empty legged, I wasn't sure why. I'm having serious issues with wasps near my hive, I just switched to a top feeder from a front feeder I'm worried my girls won't find it, but then I found the jar empty so I think they got it! My Raspberries are not as heavy as they were in the earlier months but here is a good pic of one of my girls on the bush. [ATTACH=CONFIG]2371

[GregBeekeeper]

Also don't forget bees collect propolis, and put on their legs like pollen

propolis.gif

[GregBeekeeper]

Thanks for that interesting observation

[clumsy red bear]

They go hang out at all the top bars? I saw mine flying in with little six packs. I think I'll join them.

[woodedareas]

This is an interesting thread. I have noticed the same thing. But with the increasing temperature and no rain, my supers are also not progressing. When temperatures approached 100 the other day the bees hunkered down and drank all of the water I provide at various locations. They spent their energy keeping cool rather than scavenging.The following day when the temp when to 85 degrees, they began to scavenge and did not consume as much water. Still we have had extremely limited increases in our supers. The lack of rain has impacted the blooming of new plant materials and adversely impacted others.