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Date: | Thu, 21 Jun 2012 17:32:59 -0400 |
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[log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask]) writes:
Except in very hot climates, honey bees do not forage early in the
morning.
Depends on your definition of HOT. I've seen bees foraging at crack of
dawn, and I've seen bees foraging as low as 45 degrees F - IF there's
something for them to gather.
When we train bees using a rich proprietary syrup solution in feeders
external to the hive, we can get the bees to fly and forage over a range of
temperatures from 45-105 degrees F - so its a matter of whether there's a
sufficient benefit to flying at the extreme temperatures, not the temperature
per se.
In MT, I'd agree, bees generally don't do anything until about 9 am BUT
I've seen bees in semi-arid prairie areas going after specific plants at
dawn, and a colleague reported seeing bees on plants in the dunes along the
Gulf of Mexico at dawn while out jogging.
We once did a study of conditioning bees to pollinate onions. We had them
roaring out the door at crack of dawn into relatively high winds and
foraging in the fields. Unconditioned bees waited till mid-morning to visit the
umbels.
Jerry
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