Jd's Midwest Apiaries Is Open For Business.

[ness]

That's pretty cool, JD. I hope you'll keep posting about your progress on this. They're a pretty fascinating creature.

[Stoneroller]

http://www.wired.com...s-bee-collapse/

the soybean field could be destroying your hive.

[Kayser]

http://www.reddit.com/r/Beekeeping

[Gavin]

Thats pretty cool...my neighbor has a hive...not sure how well its doing though.

[Tim Smith]

I have sweet corn planted in the garden this year and I'm amazed by the number of bees on the tassels right now. On any given plant there seem to be 6 or 8 at a time. That's a wind pollinated plant, but they're sure helping themselves at a furious pace. Any idea what corn pollen honey tastes like?

[Wayne SW/MO]

I got to thinking that in spite of having a lot of honeysuckle around, I don't see honey bees? I wonder why that is, not enough pollen in the area?

[jdmidwest]

Pollen is used as bee feed, the nectar is made into honey which is stored for food when pollen runs out. They are collecting the pollen and storing it in special cells around the brood comb. Pollen is fed to the developing brood in the hive. The nectar they collect is made into honey and stored in different areas of the hive as a survival food source in winter. While the bees are not needed to pollinate corn, the pollen on the tassels are a good source of food this time of year. Pollen is collected on the leg sacs of the bee, nectar is swallowed and regurgitated at the hive. The honey you eat is essentially bee puke.

It is funny how they pick and choose their sources of food, but mostly it is how deep the stamen is inside the flower and how much trouble they have to go to getting to the sweet nectar. Honey bees prefer smaller flowers like white clover, beans, melons, cucumbers, etc. Bigger bees like the masons will be on deeper flowers like squash and honeysuckle.

[jdmidwest]

This new hobby is turning out to be a nice time killer in the afternoons. I did not have to water the garden this afternoon, nature blessed me with 2/10 inch. The bees seemed to like it. They started off with about 30 hovering and going in and out when I got home. 10 or 15 were cleaning off the landing pad. After 30 minutes of watching the hive came alive for some reason. Bees starting pouring out of the hive opening and the 2 upper holes in the super. The air was full of bees, from the ground to the top of the trees. That lasted for about a half hour and they all returned to the hive and resumed normal activity.

Best I can tell it was the increased humidity and the heat that turned them on. I was under the impression that you needed to keep the hive cool in the summer, but the temp inside is normally kept at 98 degrees. I am going to move it into more sun tomorrow evening to see if it spurs early activity more.

[Ham]

Of course, a 50 mile ride on the back of a hitchhauler sucking exhaust fumes in the middle of the night may have made them a little stupid.

I don't know why that struck me as so funny, but that's the funniest thing I've read or heard all day.

[Ham]

There is a local association here in the Mountain Home area.Sure seems pretty interesting to me.