Maple
Big Leaf Maple, a bee favorite, is blooming, and has been for awhile here. I don't know where else this tree grows-Oregon and B.C. for sure, but I don't know where else. It's a great tree-sort of the only "romantic" tree we have here- it gets old and Gothic, huge and dark and craggy, yet explodes in color in the Fall. The other hardwood here is Red Alder, and its main feature is that it drops it leaves in Fall without changing color. It just says,one day: enough is enough, I'm not putting on any shows. BLM on the other hand, goes all out, and is also a great honey tree.
Unfortunately, its flowers and nectaries aren't always timed with weather that bees can fly in, so there are many years when no honey is harvested, and this sure might be one. I've been going through hives, moving empty frames to the center ( and saying the mantra: I am SO glad to just use Westerns and be able to move things where they need to go), and looking for queen cells.
In past years, this has been a crazy time for swarms. So far- and its not as if I have looked through every frame, so could be easily wrong- I am not seeing any queen cells. Except in hive #4- which is above and beyond and beyond that, the most powerful hive I have of all the 32 there are. It is astounding- packed with brood, three boxes worth, every frame at least some. There are more bees flying into it on a good day than to all 7 hives that are near it, combined.
There are so many bees I think that they crowd each other in flying in, and - I am speculating- bump each other out of the air, so that some-quite a number really- end up on the ground in front of the hive.
Oddly, only a few of these fly up and give it another try. They congregate. If there are only a few, the put there heads together and make a rosette. But the stay there- in all sorts of different places, and stay the night, and die. I've seen it more than a few times- and all the hives do it on the roof. The ones in the grass probably do too, but one doesn't see it.
So I tried an experiment, and cut a long piece of cardboard, as wide as the hive, and enough to make a nice ramp up to the entry, and tacked it to the entry. So that bees getting knocked down, land on it, rather than the ground, and climb up to the entry.
As a general principle with bees, when one tries to figure out a way to help them, it usually backfires- they know why the are doing, and what they need to do. So in this case- it occured to me that it was possible that these bees might be ill, and allowing them back into the hive not a good idea.
But in fact- the cardboard really seemed to work. Twice as many bees were able to enter the hive,and there was no sign that anyone was ill.
A small victory!
Unfortunately, its flowers and nectaries aren't always timed with weather that bees can fly in, so there are many years when no honey is harvested, and this sure might be one. I've been going through hives, moving empty frames to the center ( and saying the mantra: I am SO glad to just use Westerns and be able to move things where they need to go), and looking for queen cells.
In past years, this has been a crazy time for swarms. So far- and its not as if I have looked through every frame, so could be easily wrong- I am not seeing any queen cells. Except in hive #4- which is above and beyond and beyond that, the most powerful hive I have of all the 32 there are. It is astounding- packed with brood, three boxes worth, every frame at least some. There are more bees flying into it on a good day than to all 7 hives that are near it, combined.
There are so many bees I think that they crowd each other in flying in, and - I am speculating- bump each other out of the air, so that some-quite a number really- end up on the ground in front of the hive.
Oddly, only a few of these fly up and give it another try. They congregate. If there are only a few, the put there heads together and make a rosette. But the stay there- in all sorts of different places, and stay the night, and die. I've seen it more than a few times- and all the hives do it on the roof. The ones in the grass probably do too, but one doesn't see it.
So I tried an experiment, and cut a long piece of cardboard, as wide as the hive, and enough to make a nice ramp up to the entry, and tacked it to the entry. So that bees getting knocked down, land on it, rather than the ground, and climb up to the entry.
As a general principle with bees, when one tries to figure out a way to help them, it usually backfires- they know why the are doing, and what they need to do. So in this case- it occured to me that it was possible that these bees might be ill, and allowing them back into the hive not a good idea.
But in fact- the cardboard really seemed to work. Twice as many bees were able to enter the hive,and there was no sign that anyone was ill.
A small victory!
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