Different times of day?

[Nock]

This morning walked down to check on hives. Normally I don?t go this early because of work. All the foragers were returning with pollen heavy at both hives. This evening I go down just out of curiosity and now neither are bringing in pollen. Do they normally bring pollen and nectar in at different times of the day?   

[Ben Framed]

That is a good question that I would like to know the answer to also.

[herbhome]

Pollen and/or nectar are more available at different times of the day. The foragers will respond to peak availability times.

[BeeMaster2]

I notice much more pollen being brought in in the mornings than other times. I strongly suspect it is due to the nurse bees demanding it after a long night of feeding larvae and using up the pollen stores. Bees don?t just go out and collect food, the nurse bees tell the field bees what they need. In the morning it is a lot of pollen, then nectar, when it gets hot, they call for water. Quite often I see them again bringing in a lot of pollen.
Jim Altmiller

[Ben Framed]

I notice much more pollen being brought in in the mornings than other times. I strongly suspect it is due to the nurse bees demanding it after a long night of feeding larvae and using up the pollen stores. Bees don?t just go out and collect food, the nurse bees tell the field bees what they need. In the morning it is a lot of pollen, then nectar, when it gets hot, they call for water. Quite often I see them again bringing in a lot of pollen.
Jim Altmiller

Makes scene Jim, and to add with the harmony of things, it could be that the plants have time in the night to rejuvenate pollen lost the previous day of gathering.
Phillip

[Northernbeek]

Typically in my area pollen is more prevalent between 10am and 2pm. I do often see my bees bringing in pollen after 2 but not nearly as many bees brining it in


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[Nock]

That all makes sense. Thanks.

[Bob Wilson]

Interesting Jim. I wondered about that, because a few days ago I was clocking only 1 in 15 bees bringing in pollen in the afternoon. I will check in the morning sometime soon to see if the nurse bees have upped the demand. I just assumed that the bees brought in whatever they could find, which was stored for later use, like we use a pantry.
I have gleaned an incredible amount of info from general websites and forums, but I have yet to read a good book on bee biology and life.

[The15thMember]

I have gleaned an incredible amount of info from general websites and forums, but I have yet to read a good book on bee biology and life.

I don?t know if you?d be interested, but I read a great book on bee biology called Honey-Maker by Rosanna Mattingly. It?s really more about bee anatomy than life processes, but it was a fascinating read. It?s only available direct from the publisher, Beargrass Press, if you?d like to check it out.