> Most bee visits were between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
The author is talking about a single flower pollination over a brief period
but I would say 10-2 is the most active period. Especially in heavy flows.
The nest needs to evaporate the days nectar (which can go on all night when
temps are right) so activity slows in late afternoon. With our main white
clover flow the bees arrive early right after daylight and stay until almost
dark.
However some races fly earlier than others and gather later at night. A
video was shown at the Kansas Honey Producers meeting showing Australian
bees flying an hour earlier than U.S. bees and an hour later at night in
almonds. The Australian bees flying in rain.
We were surprised and felt obliged to share the video with our fellow
(possible package customers) beekeepers.
With a major flow bees from most hives take to the air but with a minor flow
to me it seems about half the bees are active and the rest of the hives act
as if there is no nectar to gather.
hard to draw concrete conclusions about bees.
Our clover flow is slowing and starting to see a few bees trying to get into
the honey building. We are in a moderate drought. If we do not get rain
tonight none is predicted until after the fourth of July. If happens our
main flow is over.
Honey flow drying up early happened last year. Wind is sucking moisture from
the ground. Sub soil moisture is gone so even a couple inches of rain
disappears quickly. Dust is blowing like in the dust bowl days. The
weatherman brought up the drought of 1979-80 to compare. Those were hard
times for Missouri beekeepers. In 1980 we started feeding bees about now and
fed until winter. The bees wintered poorly as few fall flowers.
bob
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