Bees on flowers

[beelife]

Scilla bifolia.

It's very common in Eastern Europe and has a very nice dark blue pollen.
The image is shoot today.

[Terri Yaki]

Nice! Does that make blue honey?

[beelife]

Probably not. 
I don't think a natural honey can be blue.

[The15thMember]

Beautiful!  I bet it's fun to see that blue pollen in the cells though! 

[beelife]

Beautiful!  I bet it's fun to see that blue pollen in the cells though! 

Yes, the pollen looks very nice in the cells.
Unfortunately I didn't shoot any photo of it.
Maybe next year.

[Michael Bush]

I hear that kudzu makes purple honey.  Back when we had a bee inspector, he said he once saw blue pollen in a hive and asked the beekeeper where he thought it was coming from.  The farmer said, you won't believe it unless you see it and took him to a barn nearby where the bees were collecting the paint off of an old tractor...

[beelife]

I hear that kudzu makes purple honey.  Back when we had a bee inspector, he said he once saw blue pollen in a hive and asked the beekeeper where he thought it was coming from.  The farmer said, you won't believe it unless you see it and took him to a barn nearby where the bees were collecting the paint off of an old tractor...

Blue pollen is not something unussual. If you zoom my first picture you can see the blue pollen on the bee foot. Also, the pollen of this flower is blue.

About blue honey, I think is from grapes or berries.

In my area, when we have drought in the fall is very common to see bees on grapes, but only after a hornet cut it first.
Also, on drought, the concetration of sugar in grapes is very big and very appealing for bees.

All the best. 

 

[Michael Bush]

In the South of North America we have a plant called Kudzu.  It grows so fast you can watch it grow.  It produces purple honey.
https://www.quora.com/What-is-purple-honey

[Terri Yaki]

Kudzo, another gift from Asia. It came with good intentions but now it's out of hand.

[Michael Bush]

We brought it over during the depression.  We were told that it was a good forage crop.  The story about how to plant it from that era was this:  Empty the shot out of a shotgun shell.  Fill it full of Kudzu seeds.  Go out at midnight so your neighbors don't see you.  Aim the shotgun at about a 45 degree angle and shoot.  Run as fast as you can back to the house so the Kudzu doesn't overtake you.

[beelife]

Veronica polita
Tiny flowers, but very visited by bees.

[Dora]

I hear that kudzu makes purple honey.  Back when we had a bee inspector, he said he once saw blue pollen in a hive and asked the beekeeper where he thought it was coming from.  The farmer said, you won't believe it unless you see it and took him to a barn nearby where the bees were collecting the paint off of an old tractor...

Bees put paint in their combs and "pollen" in combs is supposed to be healthy??

[Ben Framed]

author=Michael Bush link=topic=57194.msg527977#msg527977 date=1710422166]
We brought it over during the depression.  We were told that it was a good forage crop.  The story about how to plant it from that era was this:  Empty the shot out of a shotgun shell.  Fill it full of Kudzu seeds.  Go out at midnight so your neighbors don't see you.  Aim the shotgun at about a 45 degree angle and shoot.  Run as fast as you can back to the house so the Kudzu doesn't overtake you.

Mmmmm lol   

But honestly, horses love it!

[Ben Framed]

I hear that kudzu makes purple honey.  Back when we had a bee inspector, he said he once saw blue pollen in a hive and asked the beekeeper where he thought it was coming from.  The farmer said, you won't believe it unless you see it and took him to a barn nearby where the bees were collecting the paint off of an old tractor...

Bees put paint in their combs and "pollen" in combs is supposed to be healthy??

If that report is accurate then there is a good chance the paint contained lead.

JP did a removal video a few years ago where he found either blue, green, or purple color, (I can't remember which color for sure). I am thinking he said the removal was close to a zoo where snow combs were discarded in the waste and he suspected the bees got the color there...

[Terri Yaki]

author=Michael Bush link=topic=57194.msg527977#msg527977 date=1710422166]
We brought it over during the depression.  We were told that it was a good forage crop.  The story about how to plant it from that era was this:  Empty the shot out of a shotgun shell.  Fill it full of Kudzu seeds.  Go out at midnight so your neighbors don't see you.  Aim the shotgun at about a 45 degree angle and shoot.  Run as fast as you can back to the house so the Kudzu doesn't overtake you.

Mmmmm lol   

But honestly, horses love it!

I've heard that goats do too. But that would be no surprise.

[The15thMember]

Bees put paint in their combs and "pollen" in combs is supposed to be healthy??

Something like this would usually only happen if there was nothing else for the bees to collect.

I've heard that goats do too. But that would be no surprise.

Why do you say that, Terri?!  Are you one of those racial profilers who believes goats eat tin cans!! 

  Just kidding.  And goats do love kudzu. 

[beelife]

Beautiful!  I bet it's fun to see that blue pollen in the cells though! 

This is the pollen from Scilla bifolia.
Looks more purple in this image, but two weeks ago was more blue. And I'm pretty sure is the same pollen.

[The15thMember]

Oooo!  It's so pretty!  I love how a frame of different colored pollen looks like a stained glass window. 

[Terri Yaki]

So when they eat that, do they stick to the same color or do they mix it up? I never mix jelly bean colors, I'm a purist.

[The15thMember]

I never mix jelly bean colors, I'm a purist.

Agreed!

So when they eat that, do they stick to the same color or do they mix it up?

I'd imagine they do, since variety in the diet is important.  Also pollen foragers put their own pollen loads away when they get home, unlike honey foragers, who pass their load off to a house bee for storage.  Does anyone know if different pollen varieties are sometimes mixed in the cells?  Or are they separated like nectar varieties?  I seem to remember something about pollen sometimes being mixed, but I'm not sure.     

[Terri Yaki]

So when they store nectar, they keep it separated by source?

[The15thMember]

Correct, which is one of the reasons why beekeepers are able to get monofloral honey varieties.  The different colored honey cells are sometimes very noticeable if a darker and lighter variety are coming in around the same time.  It's also why it makes me kind of upset when people harvest all their honey once a year and then mix it all together.  I mean, the bees went to all that work to keep the different flavors separate!   

[beelife]

Bee on flower of Apple tree (Malus domestica)

The average production of honey is 20-30 kg per hectare.

[BeeMaster2]

Reagan,
Honey bees will visit one species of flower until it runs out. But that doesn?t mean that all of the bees in the hive are only visiting that one species. One group is going to one area, controlled by the scouts that found the flowers, and others are following where other scouts found a good source of nectar.
Jim Altmiller

[The15thMember]

But that doesn?t mean that all of the bees in the hive are only visiting that one species.

I'm aware, and which is why I mentioned light and dark varieties coming in at the same time.  I was under the impression that the foragers who are evaporating the nectar also keep the varieties separated, but I suppose that would depend on the order in which they unload the returning foragers.  So during low flow situations or times when a two or more flows are of equal strength, I guess there would be a mix of nectars in any given cell.  Correct?     

[Michael Bush]

>If that report is accurate then there is a good chance the paint contained lead.

Whatever they were painting Ford tractors with back in the 60s probably.