Although its February and theres no flowers with nectar to offer, the bees nevertheless venture out on the warmer sunny days. They take cleansing flights, which means they relieve themselves mid flight rather than soil their hive. When the sun shines and temperatures begin to climb, I look forward to hearing a familiar buzzing noise.
This week I ventured down to the hives in the field and sat beside the hive entrance to observe. Theres a lot you can learn about whats going on with a colony just by watching, without the need to open the hive. Its important to approach a hive from its rear, or side, as designated guard bees keep patrol around the entrance and being spotted would not be a clever move. Its a very relaxing place to be, sitting beside a hive (honestly!). Its comparable to the delight of watching hens cluck around the garden, the pigs digs the soil or the goats climbing on their shelter. While sitting next to the hive I saw something very exciting ... some of the bees were bringing in full pollen baskets. Thats a sign that the Queen may have started laying again, or perhaps the bees are topping up their store in anticipation of new eggs. Pollen is a rich source of protein, vitamins and trace elements. Its what the bee larvae are fed.
Willow is one of the earliest pollen producers so I ventured further down the field and sure enough it is already showing its velvet buds (pussy willow). Each plant type has a different colour pollen and its possible to tell what species the bees are working by looking at the colour of pollen in their baskets. It ranges from light browns, through yellows, oranges, greens and even blues. For once I remembered to bring my camera to the hive ... you can see the pollen on the back leg.
I mentioned earlier that there are no flowers producing nectar this time of year, but there are indeed some flowers in bloom, and like the willow, these are producing pollen. Its wonderful to see the honey bees flying around the garden and it doesn't take long for them to seek out the snowdrops, crocus and narcissus flowers.
Oh the bees gathering pollen, how exciting!
Do you ever harvest the pollen for human use?
Posted by: Lizz | February 17, 2008 at 08:17 AM