I have fell behind on bush hogging the fields adjacent to my pond this year.I have noticed that I have what seems like thousands of honey bees that have started to hang out in my stand of wild mustard.I cut one plant with a weedeater and about 15 bees flew out of that one plant!I have a neighbor about 1/2 mile away that has 5 or 6 hives but I am amazed at the amount of bee activity that we are seeing.Is anyone else seeing a noticeable increase in the number of bees this year?

I have fields of yellow goldenrod that are full of honey bees.

We run 50 hives and they are pretty active right now And like Rah, we have golden rod in bloom all over the farm this time of year. Also have another native plant that grows to about 5' tall and has clusters of white blooms, but I can't seem to name it right now due to crs and the bees are all over it also. We processed 600 lbs of very dark honey yesterday. Our honey changes colors throughout the season. The clover honey is the first we have and it is a light golden color. As the spring and summer passes the honey gets gradually darker each month to where it is now and that is a pretty dark color. I don't have much to do with it other than eat it or plant seeds for the bucks and bees. My son and daughter in law do the bee thing.

Tracy

Are the white flowers boneset or aster?

Very cool!! Love to see some photos of the whole process!

We have a few wild honey bee hives in the woods if any of you beekeepers want to catch them ..... If that is even done......

We have one hive on the farm, but I'm not its caretaker. The beekeeper came this weekend and said he'd lost all of his hives this year except mine. This one has swarmed at least a dozen times since it's been here, so it's a healthy colony. It's a pretty cool sight to see them swarm. Almost always they head straight across the pond. I have them to help pollinate all my berries, tree fruit, and veggies. I used to sell thousands of squash blossoms, and it takes far more time to extract the bees from them than it does picking them.

This is fascinating stuff - keep it up guys, I'd like to learn more about this process.

In the past 10 years, probably like everyone else, I've noticed a significant reduction in honeybees and lightning bugs/fireflies. I've read it may be in part to a disruption in their navigational abilities due to increased cell phone use, for honeybees I've also read it's due to a mite that can infect and destroy a colony.

What I have noticed is a huge leap in bumblebees - they are far more common than honeybees at our place now. Nature abhors a vacuum I guess?

A friend has 7 hives on our place, but I have him keep them far from our vegetable field. We have plenty of wild bees and a few wild honey bee hives as well in tree hollows. Some folks may not know that honey bees are not native to North America and they compete with wild native bees. We have enough wild flowers on our place to go around.

Thankfully, nature has provided plants with many more pollinators other than honey bees--mason bees, for instance. I marvel at all the critters going in and out of my trees when they're in full bloom. TJ's bumblebees are the main pollinator for my blueberries. My farm's namesake, paw paws, are pollinated by carrion flies. Some ambitious folks even hang dead animals nearby to attract flies when the paw paws are blooming. (I haven't yet) I also grow a whole lot of gourds. Many have white blossoms that only bloom at night and depend of moths for pollination.

I've read where fireflies are declining. Fortunately, that's not been the case here. I've never seen so many for such an extended period of time here. Maybe they like all the rain we've had. The same can be said for the huge assortment of frogs we have--especially tree frogs. The number of frogs this summer was downright biblical. We have found desiccated specimens everywhere--including the inside of our wood stove.

You learn something every day! I never knew what a paw paw was (Brook Wilson) much less that it was an important part of our American (southern) history!

Too bad the fruit is hard to bring to distant markets, I'd love to try one.

The critical need for the paw paw in the lifecycle of the zebra swallowtail was fascinating to read about!

Discover the Paw-Paw

Have you guys seen the Flow hive? Run a quick search on you tube for Flow hive. Really cool hive. They raised like 12 million in a month on a go fund me campaign to go into production.

Cheers Don.

When I was growing up we called Paw Paws "Indiana Bananas." They taste great! Kind of a cross between a banana and custard.....Thanks for reminding me...time to plant a few at our new place!

Dono the Flow hive looks really interesting!Maybe after a while the price may go down and make them a little more affordable.

Bill I often have heard them referred to as the Indiana Bananas also.I would like to plant some paw paw trees.The state nurseries will sell saplings but I think the minimum order is 50 trees IIRC.I think 50 trees might be too many for the amount of area that I would like to reforest.

We've got a stand of paw paws behind the sugar house, but I haven't visited them in a couple years. I enjoy reading about others discovering this kind of stuff, as I have grown to take much of it for granted. The idea that someone would deliberately purchase paw-paws from a nursery would've astounded my father....we had them growing wild durn near everywhere when I was a kid.

I'm taking some persimmons into work tomorrow, as a co-worker has never tried them.....astounding.

This past weekend my wife and I picked a bunch of paw paws and she made paw paw bread (banana bread recipe substituting paw paw for banana) and paw paw pie. I have watched the paw paws that grow wild here for a couple of years, but this is the first year that we have found any fruit on them. Very good!

Some of what I have learned the past two years about honey bees has spiked my interest as I have watched my son and his wife fool with the process. So I will pass along some of what I have learned and maybe I can get some pics of the next honey harvest. First Tj, we discussed navigation disruption this within the family. And about the bees and what is causing the disturbance in "The Force". We just this week talked about a large bee die off in Kansas, Round up along with genetic plant growth may be blamed but I am not sure anyone knows for sure but there is some pretty heavy discussion about it in the local Bee keeper Association. And Pat, we also have bees in the trees . My son will remove bees from places that people don't want them, like walls in houses and attic's or storage places, School houses, court houses are just a few of the places he will remove them (for a price) Sometimes he will take something in trade. We now have an old skeeter type bass boat at the pond. He sells his honey as Raw honey (how it is processed), but not organic because a bee will travel up to 20 miles so one must own all that land to declare it is organic. I could be wrong about this but that is what I understand. And Rah, bees will take the shortest route for pollen and will use what is the closest to them. That is why we have clover honey early in the year, we plant and maintain clover for the bees and the bucks. So most likely they are in your veggies. And Brook u r right about the swarms caused by mites and beatles and also due to too many bees in a hive which causes them to split and swarm to start a new hive. To recall a swarm is something to see, he will recall a swarm and get them to enter a new hive, does not always work but it does happen. A neat thing to watch. And Dono, he did buy a flow hive to watch and see how it all works, he has three different types of hives, each has it problems and rewards. Again, I'm no expert but just a father watching his son.

Tracy

This is really interesting stuff here....one of those topics that I could read about all day.

Just to correct some very common misinformation (with citations).

All scientific evidence points to no toxicity of GM crops to bees.

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0001415

Organic honey has no official definition in the USA except for how the bees are cared for (under USDA organic livestock regulations). If your land is certified organic and you do not treat the bees with prohibited chemicals, then you can label organic.

https://brookfieldfarmhoney.wordpress.com/2012/01/03/usda-organic-honey-what-does-it-mean/


There are guidelines, but even these allow for foraging on non-organic crops.

https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/NOP%20Livestock%20Final%20Rec%20Apiculture.pdf

P.S. Of course some of the domestic honey bees get to our vegetable field, but they are the one's that do not like the millions of closer flowers in the native habitat that is in between:)

Thanks RAH for pointing these out, the citation referring to toxicity of GM crops is interesting.

This link is even more interesting!

http://www.theonion.com/graphic/gmos-myth-vs-fact-51075

I started beekeeping last year. Some things I've learned:

- honey bees aren't native to the US, they are from Europe.

- swarming is how the honeybees multiply, the queen leaves with about 1/2 of the workers (all female) and finds a new place for a hive. The remaining workers raise a new queen and carry on.

- males do nothing but mate and then die afterwards. They don't gather pollen or nectar and do no work in the hive. As winter approaches the female workers kick them out of the hive and they die.

- worker bees fly up to 2-1/2 miles to find nectar and pollen.

- mites are the #1 pest of the honeybees (they aren't native to the US either, came from Asia). Almost every hive will get them sooner or later and they transmit viruses and weaken the bees. All of my hives have them.

- the flow hive is interesting but it doesn't mean you just set it up and get honey. You still have to be a beekeeper if you want them to survive. It doesn't lessen the chances for mites or other pests and diseases.

- the typical hive population rises to about 50,000 bees by mid-summer then falls to about 5,000 over the winter.

- during the winter they form a cluster to protect the queen and stay warm.

- the honey they make is for their consumption during bad weather and over the winter. If they don't have enough honey during the winter they die. If the cluster can't reach the honey reserves they die.

and...

- it is way more involved than I thought it would be but fascinating and rewarding nonetheless!

I used to have about 20 colonies. Then I married and found that my Wife is deathly allergic to bee stings. If there is a biting or stinging bug in the vicinity, it homes in on her. A mosquito bite, on her, can swell to the size of a half dollar. I sold my hives and all the gear.

Lots of news these days about colony collapse disorder

What about the neonicotinods?

http://ento.psu.edu/publications/are-neonicotinoids-killing-bees

The biggest problem with this seed coating is the now use of air drills to place the seed in the ground. The coatings excess is then blown off the seed as it heads to the planter and the ground. The dust cloud then covers miles and miles of early spring plants.

Years ago you had to pay a premium for large flat corn seeds and rounds were much cheaper. Now with these big air drills they all want the round so they flow to the planter smoother down the tubes. Now the large rounds are the most expensive seed shape for corn seed.

I think we are not far from a band of neonicotoinods in Canada.

I am more concerned about the false impression that these pesticides are safe for bees (see link below). Our EPA regulates neonicotinoids based on bee and environmental safety.

http://www.windhamcommunitygarden.org/uploads/9/6/1/8/9618026/organic_pesticides-july-3-12.pdf

Thanks for posting all links Rah, as a spectator, I have much to learn when it comes to bees. I do try to do the right things to help out family members who do that bee thing. Now as far as pesticides, we will use a lot of mosquito spray on our person here in N. E. Texas and Louisiana, it's the only pesticide we use at the farm but without it u will be eat up at dusk and pre daylight And I use distilled vinegar when it come to killing weeds or native grasses. It works pretty good but it runs the cost up per acre when comparing it to things like Round up. All of that type of work is done at dusk when the bees are back in the hives. I see in the links provided that vinegar is still questionable but it was suggested by the local Bee keeper Association.

Tracy

My advice is to do your research. Many people equate natural with safe, but that is a misconception. The most toxic chemicals on earth are natural (e.g. botulism toxin). IMO, many bee keepers are especially superstitious. This link might provide some perspective on natural plant-produced pesticides.

http://www.pnas.org/content/87/19/7777.full.pdf

Around here, there has been no proof, but coincidental colony die-offs when Round-up was used nearby. No conclusive results of Roundup being the primary cause behind it.

My theory is the Round-up itself is not toxic to the bees, but the reaction the plants have to it is. Plants are known to put up a good defense upon being attacked by pests, why now when something comes along and shuts down a critical component for its life? Before the plants are completely dead, I bet the plant goes toxic, and any feeding bees get a dose.

I have tried to have a hive, and gave up last year. The small hive beetles, mites, and moths just kept going to town on my hives making them weak. I am also too chicken-sh_t to work on it too often, which doesn't help.

Interestingly I had the hive pieces in my garden shed, stacked-up haphazardly. First the yellow-jackets moved in, then the mice, than a honeybee swarm. Imagine my surprise to find an active hive in my discarded pieces! Well, a few weeks later it appears the mice won. No yellow-jackets or honeybees, but a bunch of mice. I would park the mower in the shed, which irritated the bees, which then stung the mice. I could hear some crazy squeaking going on inside of the hive when this happened and mice shoot out from the hive. Just a few too many hungry mice in the shed.

RoundUp as a contributor to bee deaths (or diminished health) is a red herring (fish reference intended). This herbicide is probably one of the most studies agricultural chemical in the world.

https://entomologytoday.org/2015/10/13/glyphosate-acetamiprid-low-toxicity-honey-bees-2/

I'm a novice beekeeper (2-1/2 yrs.) and currently have four hives. As others have said there is a lot more to it than many people think. Kind of like pond management. We've had swarms, mites, hive beetles, wax moths, robber bees and a hive where all the bees just left without telling us why. I don't believe that herbicides have much to do with colony failure but my wife will disagree. I do know that insecticides, such as are being used on the Zika mosquitos is killing bees. But that's another issue.

The interesting study by the FDA states that glyphosate is showing up in the honey. Apparently this was never tested for in the past. It's not just in some of the honey, it's in all of the brands tested. Here an article about the report:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carey-gillam/fda-finds-monsantos-weed_b_12008680.html

So now the question is will the glyphosate, that is probably not hurting the bees, be hurting us? Once again there are studies that say Yes and others No. For me I use our honey like I drink my whiskey, in moderation. That way if it is killing me, it will take a long time.

One needs to have context to judge risk. I will repost the link to the PNAS paper that i posted earlier.

"Dietary pesticides (99.99% all natural)"

http://www.pnas.org/content/87/19/7777.full.pdf

Interesting study, and informative. Not knowing the details though of the total effect of Roundup on flowering plants that bees readily feed upon, I still can suspect even though I may be proven wrong. The study seems to focus on direct application to the insect, but not what natural pesticides are produced by the plants when dying from Roundup application. Perhaps some common plants get really nasty, while others do nothing substantial.

We use RoundUp on our place, the fields around us use RoundUp on almost every acre, and our bees keep increasing every year. Our experience agrees with all the scientific research, but maybe your intuition is right and the evidence is wrong. Time will tell.

This year when I've been out and about I've heard what I think was two different swarms on different properties. Couldn't find them before the noise went away, but it sounded like a bazillion teeny tiny drones. Soft at first, then louder, then softer, then gone.