Re: Are you seeing bees?

Marc Iverson 6/23/2014, 1:29 am

They are very pretty small, dark blue flowers. I got the cascading kind, but mine are still mostly upright. Mine get more than half a foot before deciding to tumble down. Highly recommend them, and now is the time for them. They did nothing for over a month when we were having cooler spring nights, even when the days warmed up some.

I do think there are other colors than blue, but am not sure. I know I've seen lighter blues than mine.

greatgranny 6/23/2014, 12:43 pm

Received this today. Interesting. I knew some of this already but some is new to me.

Outlaw Garden

CapeCoddess 6/29/2014, 10:58 am

yes! Finally, something more than one Bumblebee and some wasps. I see these little bees flying in and out of a crack in the foundation of our porch and also in a railroad tie on the steps. Any idea what kind they are? I hope they're good.
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CC

cpl100 6/29/2014, 1:24 pm

Have not seen one single bee in my yard this year! Didn't have many last year and now a complete dearth.... Sad

**camprn** 6/29/2014, 1:56 pm

Looks like a yellow jacket maybe, from here. Need a better photo.

Amethyst42 6/29/2014, 2:17 pm

I am very lucky to have bumbles living under my raspberry bush. They have a cool orange stripe.

landarch 6/29/2014, 3:29 pm

Found three swarms of bees in the community garden yesterday morning...helped capture two and set out a trap hive hoping the third would move in.

Stung once right under my right eyelid.

The smallest swarm but easiest to get to...right on the end of a branch.
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Part of the larger swarm...this swarm was wrapped around 3 big branches and had to be swept into a large budkt and poured into a waiting hive.

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**camprn** 6/29/2014, 7:41 pm

GOOD LORD!!! I have never, EVER been that lucky! Congrats. Who took them home?

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landarch 6/30/2014, 7:35 am

I'm a newbie beekeeper so it was a rare treat to see three swarms in one morning...it's a private community garden so the owner would like to keep the bees...I will get a portion of the honey to sell for my sweat/sting equity in helping capture.

GardenGroupie 7/1/2014, 11:32 am

I've still mostly got yellow jackets and few honey bees. I'm seriously missing the humble bumbles I had last year. My tomato garden was full of them.

**camprn** 7/1/2014, 1:16 pm

Caught a 2-3 pound swarm this morning. I'm pretty happy about that. Smile

**sanderson** 7/1/2014, 2:28 pm

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Do you have to set up a separate hive "system" for them? You can't just put them in an existing colony, right?

**camprn** 7/1/2014, 6:23 pm

sanderson wrote:

Do you have to set up a separate hive "system" for them? You can't just put them in an existing colony, right?

I put them in a nuc box. I cannot put the swarm in an existing colony/hive as they already have a queen.

Marc Iverson 7/1/2014, 6:37 pm

Well, my tomatoes are getting pecked by birds again. I put a couple of round, foot-wide bowls from the dollar store out in hopes they would just drink from there instead of going for the moisture in my crops, but if it's working, it's not working all the time.

However, every time I check the garden almost, I see a dead or dying bee in the water. Anybody know if there's a way I can have bees find water that doesn't also make them plunge in completely and kill themselves?

**llama momma** 7/1/2014, 6:42 pm

Maybe you could bend something like window screen material over it so they can't take the plunge?

**camprn** 7/1/2014, 7:14 pm

Marc Iverson wrote:Well, my tomatoes are getting pecked by birds again. I put a couple of round, foot-wide bowls from the dollar store out in hopes they would just drink from there instead of going for the moisture in my crops, but if it's working, it's not working all the time.

However, every time I check the garden almost, I see a dead or dying bee in the water. Anybody know if there's a way I can have bees find water that doesn't also make them plunge in completely and kill themselves?

is it a basin of water? You can put rocks in so they have a landing pad. Also, fill if with floating wine corks provides landing pads. Bees are always thirsty this time of year.

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Marc Iverson 7/1/2014, 8:21 pm

The window screen is a good idea bees-wise, but it would keep out the birds, which is the whole point of having the water there. The glass marbles might put off the birds or perhaps choke them ... I dunno ... but throwing some corks in there is a good idea. Birds could easily avoid them. And last I checked, we had saved up quite a few old corks.

A big rock might work, but it would have to be just the right size and shape so as not to overwhelm the bowl and push too much water out. The bowl is maybe four inches deep and less than a foot across, with a wide brim all around. I bury it in the ground up to the rim, so a bird can step on it without tipping it over.

I could also maybe put a big rock in one of those free frosting buckets I'm starting to pick up at the supermarket. They're kinda narrow, though ...

Thanks for the ideas!

**sanderson** 7/1/2014, 8:22 pm

camprn wrote:

Is that an unmarked queen in the middle? Just asking.

**camprn** 7/1/2014, 8:37 pm

sanderson wrote:
camprn wrote:

Is that an unmarked queen in the middle? Just asking.

yes the long yellow bee with a brown thorax is the queen.

landarch 7/1/2014, 10:59 pm

I'm a bee newbie, but here's how we water bees in the community garden...denim fabric over a piece of floating foam...bees drink water right from the wet fabric...no chance to drown...but with the wicking action you have to really stay on top of keeping water filled to the proper level.

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Pollinator 7/2/2014, 8:03 am

camprn wrote:
sanderson wrote:

Is that an unmarked queen in the middle? Just asking.
yes the long yellow bee with a brown thorax is the queen.

And she's a beauty!

TxGramma 7/2/2014, 12:13 pm

Marc, you could leave the ones you have for the birds and add in some for the bees and butterflies. Get some shallow bowls/trays and put a few rocks in them, you could use whatever you have around the yard or pick up a bag of river rocks. A few small ones on the ground would also provide water for frogs and lizards too. You could even use the shallow tray bird feeders, fill in any drain holes, if you wanted to hang them up. There's lots of different designs and ways to do it. If you check the internet for setting up pollinator habitats you will find lots of neat ideas to help keep pollinators around. Not only do they need flowers and water but they need homes and areas to hide from predators. Things that we don't always think about when we want them to come help us out.

**camprn** 7/2/2014, 2:27 pm

Pollinator wrote:
camprn wrote:
sanderson wrote:

Is that an unmarked queen in the middle? Just asking.
yes the long yellow bee with a brown thorax is the queen.

And she's a beauty!

Thanks! She's doing a pretty good job. Smile

slimbolen99 7/9/2014, 2:06 pm

For the first time since we've lived in this house (over five years), I am seeing multiples of honey and bumble bees in the garden.
I attribute that mostly to my increasing our flower selection and lack of using pesticides and herbicides. I'm not sure where they are coming from yet, but imagine they are traveling a little ways because I haven't seen any swarms.

GardenGroupie 7/9/2014, 2:33 pm

I was happy a few days ago when I started to see bumbles bees working their magic in my garden the other day.

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