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AlanT
New Bee
Joined: 03 Mar 2019
Posts: 8
Location: USA,Virgina, Rockbridge Count
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 Posted: Fri Mar 15, 2019 1:00 am Post subject: Found an active bee tree |
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I found an active bee tree today. I could see comb through the entrance hole and hear and smell bees inside. It was too late in the evening for bees to be flying. Any ideas about how to feed these bees? The entrance hole is about an 1 1/2 inches wide and 3 inches long. It is right at head height. I put out my newly made quadratic hive nearby as a swarm trap.
The forum is not allowing to post my pictures because I haven't posted 5 times yet. |
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AlanT
New Bee
Joined: 03 Mar 2019
Posts: 8
Location: USA,Virgina, Rockbridge Count
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| Posted: Fri Mar 15, 2019 1:01 am Post subject: |
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https://drive.google.com/open?id=1U6_JHLbp3fyD0yKxkrmAjfdmmxox9lpf
I found an active bee tree today. I could see comb through the entrance hole and hear and smell bees inside. It was too late in the evening for bees to be flying. Any ideas about how to feed these bees? The entrance hole is about an 1 1/2 inches wide and 3 inches long. It is right at head height. I put out my newly made quadratic hive nearby as a swarm trap.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1NPJlabxvU06U7-ivHtf_6mteEVI-4e__
I should have taken a picture of the tree from farther back to give more perspective. I will try to do that in the near future. |
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Barbara
Site Admin
Joined: 27 Jul 2011
Posts: 1857
Location: England/Co.Durham/Ebchester
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| Posted: Fri Mar 15, 2019 12:30 pm Post subject: |
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Hi.
Hive looks very nice and congrats on finding a feral colony. I'm not sure why you would want to feed them. That just knocks them out of balance with their environment. It artificially stimulates them when the flora is not there to support their expansion. You want bees that are self sustaining not in constant need of propping up. These bees will have had no honey harvested from them and are in a well insulated home with a nice curtain of wax comb to baffle any draughts. If they do not survive without feeding then the chances are that they are not worth having because they are weak or not acclimatised to the area.
I would recommend that you visit regularly and watch for activity and pollen being taken in which will tell you that they are starting to build up for a new season. None of mine have been fed and even cast swarms from last year are happily foraging when the sun comes out and the temperature allows.
Good luck with baiting a swarm from them in May/June. |
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AlanT
New Bee
Joined: 03 Mar 2019
Posts: 8
Location: USA,Virgina, Rockbridge Count
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Barbara
Site Admin
Joined: 27 Jul 2011
Posts: 1857
Location: England/Co.Durham/Ebchester
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| Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2019 2:16 pm Post subject: |
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| Great news! |
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Quality Top Bar Hives by Andrew Vidler
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Conserving wild bees
Research suggests that bumble bee boxes have a very low success rate in actually attracting bees into them. We find that if you create an environment where first of all you can attract mice inside, such as a pile of stones, a drystone wall, paving slabs with intentionally made cavities underneath, this will increase the success rate.
Most bumble bee species need a dry space about the size a football, with a narrow entrance tunnel approximately 2cm in diameter and 20 cm long. Most species nest underground along the base of a linear feature such as a hedge or wall. Sites need to be sheltered and out of direct sunlight.
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Information about the Tree Bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum)
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