[dkvello]

Hello, new Beek in Virginia Beach,
Installed a Swarm on Tuesday evening, everything went fine. Checking on them yesterday, I noticed at lot of activity in and out of the hive, but very little pollen coming in. About one bee with pollen for every 200-300 arivals maybe more. Its was very overcast with a very light rain all day- less than 1/4 inch. So my question is- is the lack of pollen due to new foragers, rain affecting the pollen, or lack of need because of lack of brood?

Dave

 

[blueline]

DK

I just installed four packages Sunday, and I would say I am seeing about the same thing that you are seeing. I do know that the bees are working the heck out of the ton of honeysuckle that I have around my property, but not a lot of pollen coming in. Being a new beek I am just guessing that at this point they are more interested in the necter for comb building. but that is simply a guess on my part.

Good luck
Blueline

 

[AmericasBeekeeper]

They do not have a high demand for protein in pollen after only two days. As previously stated they need carbs to build comb.

 

[mothergoosemagic]

I installed a package Monday afternoon, checked Wed to see if the queen had been released, and only saw a couple of bees with pollen in their baskets. Definitely dandelion as it's all over the place & I saw the girls working the flowers while I was weeding the strawberry patch. I started with all drawn comb, but I'm still not sure how soon they'll switch to pollen collection since there's not much need to draw comb.

 

[mike haney]

you should be feeding a new swarm. good luck,mike

 

[bigbore]

mothergoosemagic, my expetrience says they will gather nectar as long as they don't need pollem. as the need increases thee ratio will too.