What's this on my grid board?

NCNate · March 08, 2021, 09:23:29 PM

We're finally starting to get some warm weather so I cleaned my grid boards yesterday evening. I checked this evening and found what looks like a couple of flower petals. What are they?

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I also found a larva that doesn't look right in a separate hive. Any idea on it?

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.30WCF · March 08, 2021, 09:26:23 PM

One of them is a Runts candy banana. I don?t know about the flower.

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The15thMember · March 08, 2021, 11:12:40 PM

That larva looks like a waxworm to me. I don't know about the flower. I'm bad with plants. It's one of my beekeeping weaknesses.

NCNate · March 09, 2021, 08:58:04 AM

Why would there be flower petals inside the hive? Don't think I've ever seen a honey bee bring back a flower?

Hops Brewster · March 09, 2021, 11:02:13 AM

Some other pest could have brought in the flower petal. Or even the wind. We may never know how it got there. But one thing for certain, the honey bees are not the only critters that think a nice warm, dark box is the place for food and shelter.

AR Beekeeper · March 09, 2021, 01:10:58 PM

I have seen a forager return to the hive with a blossom of Purple Deadnettle, and I saw it being carried around on the frame.

Ben Framed · March 09, 2021, 01:31:21 PM

Probably stuck to the leg and carried in. ??

AR Beekeeper · March 09, 2021, 05:59:57 PM

I have seen them with blossom stuck to the leg, but the one I saw fly in had the blossom in it's mandibles.

beesnweeds · March 09, 2021, 09:21:58 PM

Looks like a hive beetle larva to me on the board.

Bob Wilson · March 10, 2021, 08:04:40 AM

It looks like a flower petal from henbit, which is a common broadleaf lawn weed flowering in our yards right now. I believe that is the source of the red pollen coming into our hives.
Henbit, dandelions, and clover. The big three broadleaf lawn weeds.

Hops Brewster · March 10, 2021, 10:33:18 AM

Quote from: Bob Wilson on March 10, 2021, 08:04:40 AM
It looks like a flower petal from henbit, which is a common broadleaf lawn weed flowering in our yards right now. I believe that is the source of the red pollen coming into our hives.
Henbit, dandelions, and clover. The big three broadleaf lawn weeds.

I beg to differ. Clover is a fertilizer, weed preventer and soil stabilizer.
I remember when clover was included in many lawn seed blends because it sprouts faster than grass thus stabilizing the soil, it is a nitrogen fixer so fertilizing the soil, and existence of clover in the lawn reduces the amount of henbit and dandelions in the lawn, therefore a weed preventer.

The15thMember · March 10, 2021, 12:37:42 PM

Quote from: Hops Brewster on March 10, 2021, 10:33:18 AM
Quote from: Bob Wilson on March 10, 2021, 08:04:40 AM
It looks like a flower petal from henbit, which is a common broadleaf lawn weed flowering in our yards right now. I believe that is the source of the red pollen coming into our hives.
Henbit, dandelions, and clover. The big three broadleaf lawn weeds.
I beg to differ. Clover is a fertilizer, weed preventer and soil stabilizer.
I remember when clover was included in many lawn seed blends because it sprouts faster than grass thus stabilizing the soil, it is a nitrogen fixer so fertilizing the soil, and existence of clover in the lawn reduces the amount of henbit and dandelions in the lawn, therefore a weed preventer.

I listened to a great episode of the podcast PolliNation (which is one of my favorite bee podcasts) about the benefits of clover, which was extremely informative. It's episode 77 "David Cantlin -- More Clover in Your Turf? Lessons from the City of Fife", if anyone else is interested in learning about clover as a turf additive and substitute.

Bob Wilson · March 10, 2021, 06:54:44 PM

Hops.
I stand corrected.

That comment arose from my earlier life as a large retail nursery employee. Since I started keeping bees, I have arrived at new definitions of what are weeds... and even exactly when spring begins.

The15thMember · March 11, 2021, 03:58:50 PM

I found a flower like this on my bottom board yesterday too. I wonder if something about this flower makes it get stuck to them when they are foraging, or if they occasionally bring one back deliberately for some reason, and what that reason is.

Ben Framed · March 11, 2021, 04:17:04 PM

Quote from: The15thMember on March 11, 2021, 03:58:50 PM
I found a flower like this on my bottom board yesterday too. I wonder if something about this flower makes it get stuck to them when they are foraging, or if they occasionally bring one back deliberately for some reason, and what that reason is.

I suspect it simply gets stuck.

Bob Wilson · March 11, 2021, 11:04:46 PM

I don't think so, Ben.
I suspect a drone brought his queen a bouquet of flowers. Love is in the air.

Ben Framed · March 12, 2021, 12:27:51 AM

Quote from: Bob Wilson on March 11, 2021, 11:04:46 PM
I don't think so, Ben.
I suspect a drone brought his queen a bouquet of flowers. Love is in the air.

Haa haa maybe so!

BAHBEEs · March 16, 2021, 04:28:39 PM

Well...Henbit does have a very tiny bloom, so if any was going to get stuck it would be it.