A BEE thread....for those interested in beekeeping.

[3goodeggs]

My only guess is there is not yet enough pollen for them so they are going for the protein in the pellets.
I have a feeder that limits the surface area of the pellets so the chickens won't waste it.
I have not seen bees on the feed, but they do go into the coop for the water.

I am in Florida and there is always pollen somewhere, so they might not need to find other sources of protein.


http://entomology.ucdavis.edu/files/147616.pdf

www.google.com/search?q=bee+protein+patty&espvd=2&source=univ&tbm=shop&tbo=u&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi4pZmf_J_LAhWD6SYKHa76AgsQsxgIHQ&biw=1920&bih=955

 

[mak1]

Not enough pollen. They have to feed there young. So what I do and most commercial beekeepers they put soy flower powder in a tub and let them collect it for a pollen substitution. Won't hurt the bees and won't fly and take the chicken feed.

 

[noble]

My bee's didn't swarm. And today I check to see if the new queen has hatched. I called dadant.com where I got all the stuff for the bee boxes and he said it was probably a breeding flight. They seem to be bringing back a lot of polli

 

[noble]

I'll let u all know how it looks today

 

[3goodeggs]

They were drones?

 

[Beekissed]

Thinking about trying to bait in a wild swarm this spring if I can. I've been watching vids on how folks do that and last year I had a lone bee scouting our shed up here and it was obviously looking for a likely place. Sure would be nice to have my own pollinators. That scout bee was the only honey bee we saw all year.

The other day I picked up a heavy duty nightstand/end table at a yard sale for $4 and, for some reason, it reminded me of the proportions of a hive body....so I think I'll turn it into a really neat little top bar hive. This thing is hard to lift it's so heavy and it's tightly built. I'll wrap the top with flashing to keep it watertight, do some modifications to turn it into a TBH, give it a good paint job and see if I can attract some bees.

 

[chicapee]

Thinking about trying to bait in a wild swarm this spring if I can.  I've been watching vids on how folks do that and last year I had a lone bee scouting our shed up here and it was obviously looking for a likely place.  Sure would be nice to have my own pollinators.  That scout bee was the only honey bee we saw all year. 

The other day I picked up a heavy duty nightstand/end table at a yard sale for $4 and, for some reason, it reminded me of the proportions of a hive body....so I think I'll turn it into a really neat little top bar hive.  This thing is hard to lift it's so heavy and it's tightly built.  I'll wrap the top with flashing to keep it watertight, do some modifications to turn it into a TBH, give it a good paint job and see if I can attract some bees. 

That sounds like a fun project.

 

[CherMoz]

Our bees did not survive over the winter, but there have been honeybees all over the small pieces of old honeycomb that we cleaned out of the hive box. We believe these honeybees are either from the first year we had bees and ended up with an empty hive (swarmed or just found a new home???) or from a swarm that left the hive this last fall (hardly any brood comb in the current hive we cleaned out).

Anyway, we'd love to draw some in to our now empty top bar. I'll have to search for videos on attracting them.

 

[Beekissed]

Our bees did not survive over the winter, but there have been honeybees all over the small pieces of old honeycomb that we cleaned out of the hive box. We believe these honeybees are either from the first year we had bees and ended up with an empty hive (swarmed or just found a new home???) or from a swarm that left the hive this last fall (hardly any brood comb in the current hive we cleaned out).

Anyway, we'd love to draw some in to our now empty top bar. I'll have to search for videos on attracting them.

There are many, many vids on YT about that and after watching quite a few, it seems fairly simple, especially if done at the right time of the year. Lemongrass essential oil, a likely place for bees to want to live, available comb already started in the hive box or even empty frames, etc.

Here's one such vid....

 

[CherMoz]

Thanks Beekissed!