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10/12/12 and the girls are working hard

5K views 17 replies 16 participants last post by  blueribboncookies 
#1 ·
Two weeks in to October and the Girls are still bringing in pollen. And a Lot of it ! Thank goodness for the Goldenrod and all the other plants that bloom in the fall.
 
#6 ·
Mine are going like gangbusters too, just working shorter hours. I have to come by the house early in mid day to see mine working now. Sun is below the trees in evening when I get home.

We have had several nights in the 30's, but only have seen frost once, lightly. A south wind is blowing this morning and it is supposed to climb to 80. I think I will peek in and see what is happening later today.
 
#12 ·
I checked on my hives on Sunday, 10/14/12, the girls are still bringing in tons of pollen (83 F). Their baskets are full of bright orange and also an ivory colored pollen. My main hive, #1, has stopped feeding and is nearly full (only checked upper deep) but no activity in the super (I was hoping for some comb building). Hives 2 & 3 were splits from the hive #1 on 28 July and are about 3/4 full in the bottom deep. Hive #2 has started some comb building in the upper deep and is feeding more than hive #3 that has not started building comb in their upper deep. I may have to feed 2 & 3 starting in Dec. but I hope they make it through the winter.
 
#14 ·
Track them down...? There's no need. The stuff is everywhere in the road ditches up in my area. Funny, until a couple days ago I didn't even know what goldenrod was. I figured I better be able to ID it since it such a big fall honey flow crop. So I looked it up on Friday. Now that I can recognize it I see it everywhere!
 
#15 ·
I'm near the Colorado River and the goldenrod is in full bloom around here. I tied the goldenrod in my ditches with hot pink caution tape so no one would mow it down! Hope it works. I had to put on another super on both hives, they were running out of room. I have a pasture full of it right next to the bee yard.
 
#16 ·
Goldenrod, a few dumb questions. First off I didnt know what it was till a couple of weeks ago either, although I have seen it for the past 50 yrs. My questions are, is this a nectar producing plant or pollen, can it be both? And as long as it has yellow blooms, is it still producing for the bees? Or is it still in bloom long after the pollen or nectar has stopped. Also I know things are different every where, but were I live I have noticed that some one has sprayed alot of posion in the ditch banks where it grows, mainly under the power lines. Do you think that it was the highwat dept, or the electric company?
 
#17 ·
Goldenrod pollen is bright orange-yellow, and as long as they are bringing in pollen I think they are also getting nectar.

The ivory colored pollen is likely morning glory (bindweed) or vining honeysuckle. I didn't think honeybees did anything with the honeysuckle until I saw them a couple weeks ago working over the batch on the hillside along the road to the pecan trees I gather nuts from in the fall. Seems another large bee (bumblebee of some sort) was cutting the floral tube open to get to the nectar, and the bees were following her and cleaning up. They were collecting off-white pollen at the same time.

Honeybees love bindweed too, although most of that grows in corn fields around here and it gets ripped out when the corn is harvested.

Peter
 
#18 ·
still lots of activity on oct 15th in iowa! we set out the extractor with the intent to clean it --- and had so many bees i had to get in my car from the passenger's side. which, i guess, could be a cleaning tip. interesting that several bees seemed to be fighting each other. tomorrow will be in the 70s so more activity yet to come.

thank you for the explanation of the white pollen - i wondered what that was!

Metal
 
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