Re: Are you seeing bees?

**camprn** 5/17/2011, 10:28 pm

Backyard Buzz

**Furbalsmom** 5/18/2011, 1:33 am

How are your friends in the new hive doing?

jercarol 5/19/2011, 3:26 pm

No bees in NE Maryland that I have seen. I have carpenter's bees eating my house but no bees. I have seen a couple hummingbirds.

Nonna.PapaVino 5/19/2011, 3:39 pm

YES! We have bees, finally. Just hope they emerged in time to fertilize the blossoms on the Asian pears. Twenty years ago, we had wild honeybees in a almost-dead, rotted out Douglas fir in the forest behind the house. We even witnessed at least two, maybe three swarms from the tree in a couple of years. Suddenly, the tree was empty, no bees. They seem to be making a comeback now, whether wild bees, or or those from a domestic hive, we don't know, but we and our fruit trees are thankful. I will continue to make the place friendly to carpenter bees, however.

**camprn** 5/19/2011, 4:29 pm

jercarol wrote:No bees in NE Maryland that I have seen. I have
carpenter's bees eating my house but no bees. I have seen a couple
hummingbirds.

Oh dear! How are you going to deal with them? Contrary to their name Carpenter bees do not eat wood, but will move bits of wood if necessary.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpenter_bee

Furbalsmom wrote:How are your friends in the new hive doing?

They are doing well, drawing out comb, collecting pollen and nectar but the queen, I am going to replace. She was slow to start laying eggs and is not laying the eggs quickly or in a desirable pattern. Shocked

I am waiting for a new queen to arrive in the mail next week sometime. Fingers crossed that she is a stronger queen! Very Happy

Thanks for asking! Wink

ModernDayBetty 5/19/2011, 7:44 pm

Bee's are a live and well in my yard. We've always had a lot of bee's but they seem to be "worse" this year with all my dandelions. I have a constant buzz in my yard. I say worse because there are soo many and I'm scared of bees but I know they are essential and important.

On a very related note my students (5th grade) today were reading about ecologist, environmental ecosystems, and pesticides. We drew an ecosystem starting with honey bees and ending with animals that eat plants at the beginning of our study. Then as we discussed pesticides used in our homes and in the farms around our homes we killed of the bees, then the plants, then the animals, then little Betty (our human). It wasn't apart of the planned curriculum but it fit in so well. I then told them that honey bees were endangered species. They wrote some very poignant poems about saving the bees :o)

shannon1 5/20/2011, 1:55 am

No honey bees Sad

laurainwinona 5/20/2011, 2:21 am

I saw one or two honey bees (I think) earlier this spring, but none since. Lots of bumble bees and wasps, though.

middlemamma 5/20/2011, 2:56 am

laurainwinona wrote: Lots of bumble bees and wasps, though.

Same here. No bees yet.

staf74 5/20/2011, 11:10 pm

I have honeybees here and all over the clover in my backyard. Hopefully this will continue unabated. Carpenter bees too but they get quite territorial chasing others off. We have a local honey supplier less than a mile away and I'm certain I get his bees foraging in my back yard. Bring it on! Bees rock Very Happy

Unmutual 5/21/2011, 1:28 am

Lol, the bees disappearing..reminds me of Doctor Who. But seriously, I've only seen the odd bumble bee. I've also been thinking about making a bee hive for the back yard too. I'm just not sure where I can put it since it's not the largest back yard and it's already filling up with SFG boxes! But fresh, unadulterated honey does sound good.

**donnainzone5** 5/21/2011, 1:17 pm

I saw one bee back in January during a warm spell, but none since.

Now that my borage is blooming and the new lavender plant preparing to do so, I remain hopeful.

tegaan 5/21/2011, 10:41 pm

We had a lot of bees earlier this spring until the apple orchards started spraying. I haven't seen bee's since. I just saw a news clip that lots of bees are dying because of the pesticides and they are getting new diseases, etc they cannot fight. It is very sad that alot of people do not realize that bees are an important (vital) part of our lives.

Kari

JakeGa 5/22/2011, 2:00 pm

I think it Albert Einstein who said, "When the bees are gone so are we".....

Unmutual 5/23/2011, 4:32 pm

I saw a honey bee over the weekend while I was working on one of those wicking boxes for SFG. Wonder where the hive is...

tegaan 5/23/2011, 11:41 pm

I know where the bees are. Just saw on CTV news....20,000 bees swarm car on Vancouver Island.

Kari

FamilyGardening 5/24/2011, 2:36 am

we have a few in our back yard this spring!

i never thought i would be so happy to hear and see a bee.....im very scared of them....yet miss them when they havent been around for the last couple of years.....funny...now that im gardening....when i hear the buzz sound....i feel relief instead of fear..... Very Happy

hugs
rose

**camprn** 5/24/2011, 6:29 am

tegaan wrote:I know where the bees are. Just saw on CTV news....20,000 bees swarm car on Vancouver Island.

Kari

I really would like to catch a swarm this spring! Vancouver is too far away. Sad

Hopefully a local beekeeper collected that swarm. Very Happy

FarmerValerie 5/24/2011, 10:53 am

camprn wrote:
tegaan wrote:I know where the bees are. Just saw on CTV news....20,000 bees swarm car on Vancouver Island.

Kari
I really would like to catch a swarm this spring! Vancouver is too far away.
Hopefully a local beekeeper collected that swarm.

I want to know who went out there and counted them.

Miss M 5/24/2011, 12:15 pm

We haven't seen as many bees this year as we usually do. Just a few honeybees, and some bumble bees. We're hoping to get our bees back. Hope we haven't had a bunch of colony collapse disorder or something. Sad

dizzygardener 5/24/2011, 4:43 pm

I'm still not seeing any honey bees. I see bumblebees, Carpenter bees, wasps and even a couple hornets, but not honey bees.

GreenBlueberry 5/25/2011, 11:58 am

I saw one today! (Circled in the pic) Really busy on my cucumbers. I've also seen a few bumblebees and butterflies.
Are you seeing bees? - Page 4 Beeinc10

Goosegirl 5/25/2011, 8:42 pm

I've seen 2 beautiful, fat, black, fuzzy bumble bees in my yard so far. I hope they stick around!

TC

shannon1 5/27/2011, 12:58 am

Most of the bees I see are Halictidae bees they are beauties

jazzymaddy 5/27/2011, 11:12 am

This big fluffy guy was flying around inside my tulle this morning - couldn't get a very good shot of it. Must've gotten in by my zucchini plant because it's not covered anymore. Hopefully that means it helped the zukes on its way in. I don't like bees as a general rule, but sure was happy to see this one!

Are you seeing bees? - Page 4 P1010816

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