Bees I'll never understand..

[swampcat]

I have noticed the things in bloom I would think the bees would work.. well not one but butterflies, and bumblebees all over it..clover in the lawn that when I was a kid I had to wear shoes outside because of the honey bees.. none.. so this morning on the walk around I have 16 long rows of okra (money crop) all in bloom you can see the pollen.. No bees,
a poor field with 7 wide row plantings of peas and buckwheat for soil improvement. the Bees are swarming it..

I know you fellows up North are going to say who can blame the bees No body likes okra.. maybe ya'll just haven't had hot pickled okra and beer yet..

Beginning to believe its the fertilizers we are using today, that keep the insects away..but who knows..

Good Times..

SwampCat

[nytrapper23]

That’s very interesting swampcat , I have clover in my lawn and the honeybees were all over it about two weeks ago ? I would love to get some bees but had no idea they were so complicated until you guys started posting on here ?

[swampcat]

I am keeping my bee hives at the edge or in the woods for the most part.. and it seems they work the trees..

I have no idea what they are up too except when I see them working the crimson clover in April or the buckwheat I plant for them. things I would think they would work I don't notice them in.. I planted wild flowers and sunflowers mostly worked by bumble bees and butter flies.. Now if I put out a feeder in the backyard with sugar water look out they will be all over that..

Kind of thinking these bees are mostly bee farm raised and bee farms grow them on sugar water.. thinking its bred into them to work sugar water now.. I do have some sourwood trees here and I would like for them to work that..

[old243]

They seem to move to whatever is in bloom, here. Started the year on blossoms and  dandiions. Next they were hitting the clover and alfalfa. We had a couple of hundred acres of canola, close by, they were in it a couple of weeks ago, the canola flowers are gone now. Our goldenrod is starting to bloom, there is a lot of it around, could smell the goldenrod honey , in the hives tonight. The girls have been packing it in this year. Much better than last year. Have 4 strong hives , 2 medium and a nuc , with a new queen, just hatched. An interesting thing, canola honey has to be extracted fairly soon or it is hard to get out of the comb.  Have been providing water in hive top feeders, they really use a lot of it. Have fun with your bees . old243

[swampcat]

I checked three hives yesterday, two were ok but a little disappointing I really thought they should have built up numbers more.. the other hive really didn't have brood to speak of, or much else.. I pulled a frame of brood with young larva out of a stronger hive and added it to the weak one.. that hive had a queen in it a while back I had found her once. I have no idea what happened there.. I'm hoping they make a queen and build up before winter the fall flow is about to start here now.. I have a small field of buckwheat the bees are working in the mornings..

Still trying..

Oh well its time for the fall garden here, so I'll be riding on the tractor today.. going to plant collards, beets, and carrots.. man I ordered 4 oz of carrot seed, thats a lot of carrots..well the half pound of beets are a lot too..
think I over bought seeds.. Yeah I'm a seed junkie..