Honeybees

[NewRIRMom]

Over the last week I have noticed more and more bees around my feeders. My girls don't seem to be worried about them. How would I find the hive? I would be interested to see the hive but I would not want to disburb it.

 

[lucky acres]

What a great find you have there.. If you give them sugar water make sure you boil the water first! don't want to harm them with something bad in the water. also humming bird feed works great.

 

[deerman]

Quote:
Trouble with humming bird feeders...lot of them have bee guards to keep the bees out..........yes you will see bees around them ,but they CAN'T get the sugar water.

You can use chick waters , just make sure the water is safe, will need changed ofen too.

 

[sgtmom52]

Feeding sugar water is fine ~ if you plan to do that know that honeybees need a more concentrated mix than humming birds do. Spring feeding is usually 1 part sugar to 1 part water or 1 part sugar to 2 parts water while fall mix is very heavy at 2 parts sugar to 1 part water. Use only 100% granulated pure white cane or beet sugar ~ do not use brown sugar, molasses, sorghum, or fruit juices as these all have impurities that can cause dysentery in bees. Confectioner’s sugar has corn starch in it, which is also not good.

The fact that the bee are in the feeders means that the bees are not actually looking for nectar (sugar syrup) but pollen (protein) which they are getting from the soy or other proteins in the feed. Honeybees increase their brood rearing in the late winter to have bees ready for the spring nectar flow and they feed pollen to the young.

 

[Imagesoart]

Hi all,

What kind of hives do you all have? I have started with a top bar hive. I really like it and had a good start last year. Lots of combs and some honey. But then my bees absconded. We had a lot of heat and the hive was in a sunny location. This year I have Italian bees, and will need another hive?

 

[journey11]

That is a temporary behavior. They are coming out on these warmer days and checking things out. Mostly looking for water and any possibility of nectar. I keep my bees in the same pasture as my chickens and the chickens can go right up to the box and the bees seem to know that they are no threat and do not bother them. They would have a hard time stinging through all those feathers anyway. The bees are our friends and so beneficial. Just ignore them, they will move on soon.

ETA: Imagesoart you should go check out www.beesource.com/forums/index.php They have wonderful, very active forums there and lots of folks specializing in natural beekeeping. You'll have no problem getting all your questions answered there.