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3 hours ago, Daniel said:

Honeybees in slooow mootion!

It so relaxing just to watch my bees lazily flapping their wings and wobbling in for a landing. Very satisfying!

@Daniel How many hives do you have Daniel?  They are fascinating! 

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51 minutes ago, Trish said:

Just because I'm interested, do they swarm very often?  

Depends, because it’s reproduction it can be almost impossible to stop them. But if I give each hive enough careful attention sometimes I can manipulate the swarming instinct and end up with additional colonies instead of a swarm. 

But I always lose a few each season swarming. So far this winter was very cold and very late, and there has been no swarming so far. Last year and the year before, the swarms started in mid March.

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15 hours ago, Daniel said:

It so relaxing just to watch my bees lazily flapping their wings and wobbling in for a landing. Very satisfying!

I love how they just casually pile on top of each other. Landing on top of someone seems totally acceptable. No “ope, sorry!” in that hive!

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23 hours ago, Daniel said:

Depends, because it’s reproduction it can be almost impossible to stop them. But if I give each hive enough careful attention sometimes I can manipulate the swarming instinct and end up with additional colonies instead of a swarm. 

But I always lose a few each season swarming. So far this winter was very cold and very late, and there has been no swarming so far. Last year and the year before, the swarms started in mid March.

Bees are so important for making the earth go round.  Will never keep them, but I like to find out as much about them as possible for a non-keeper.  Thank you for sharing how it works for you @Daniel. 

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@Jungle Fan

Quote

It was marvellous, a feast for the eyes, this complication of coloured tints, a perfect kaleidoscope of green, yellow, orange, violet, indigo, and blue; in one word, the whole palette of an enthusiastic colourist!

— Jules Verne, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

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2 minutes ago, Daniel said:

I saw honeybees on the Sassafras today. The bees were too wily to be photographed, but the flowers stood still:

image.png.53dccaf092b12357e31d9058e0e1d653.png

My dad always talked about his grandmother making sassafras tea from the plant. She was part Cherokee. I always wondered what it tasted like. Do your bees give sassafras honey? Do you like the flavor? 

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37 minutes ago, Alesha said:

My dad always talked about his grandmother making sassafras tea from the plant. She was part Cherokee. I always wondered what it tasted like. Do your bees give sassafras honey? Do you like the flavor? 

I think Sassafras is just too early in the spring to get honey. Anything the the honeybees get now gets consumed in the all the brood rearing currently going on. Also the trees themselves are widespread but not common which makes it hard to get a flow. But man oh man would I love to taste some Sassafras honey!

I can tell you what the tea tasted like though. When you injure the roots or bark of the tree it yields a very strong odor of root beer. I haven't checked but I bet the etymology of root beer goes back to a drink made from either the bark or roots of Sassafras.

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10 minutes ago, Daniel said:

I think Sassafras is just too early in the spring to get honey. Anything the the honeybees get now gets consumed in the all the brood rearing currently going on. Also he trees themselves are widespread but not common which makes it hard to get a flow. But man oh man would I love to taste some Sassafras honey!

I can tell you what the tea tasted like though. When you injure the roots or bark of the tree it yields a very strong odor of root beer. I haven't checked but I bet the etymology of root beer goes back to a drink made from either the bark or roots of Sassafras.

Ok, yep, I can remember him saying something about root beer! That's so interesting. Thanks for the info! 

One of our local friends just collected their honey last week. Their bees gave them orange blosson this year. They were excited. I guess they got something else last year. Interesting how it changes. 

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