Can bees fly at nite

[tom]

Hello

  I was thinking if bees live most of thier life in darkness then can they fly at nite if they are not far from thier hive.


Tom

[Brian D. Bray]

Once upon a time my older brother thought bees could fly at night so he proposed to harvest honey by the light of the moon.  The bees didn't fly, they marched out of the hive, across the ground and up his pant legs.  he got stung over 50 times.  I ended up putting the super back on the hive from the opposite he was working from.  I also smoked the bees on the ground so they headed back to the hive.

I have seldom laughed so hard as I did that night, over 40 years ago, watching him slap his pants legs and pockets.

Never go into a hive at night.

[Mici]

hive is small. they orientate in the hive with the help of scents and palps. when outside they depend on their eyeSsights :lol:

(I think :!: )

[Dick Allen]

In Asia, the giant honey bee, Apis dorsata, has been observed to fly on bright moonlit nights.

[Mici]

¸when honey flows are..great it sometimes motivates the bees so they forage even at night. someone posted a few pics of bees foraging linden tree nectar
http://www.slovenski-cebelarji.com/cvet-cebela-cebelarstvo-obranovic/view_album.php?set_albumName=NO%C8NI-LET-NA-LIPOVI-PA%8AI

[Dick Allen]

Here is a quote from Eva Crane's 'Bees and Beekeeping':

"It has been known for some time that tropical African A. mellifera forages on moonlit nights. Dyer (1987) has shown that A. dorsata can forage when the moon is between half-full and full, and that when she dances, her wagtail run indicates the direction not of the moon, but of the (hidden) sun."

[qa33010]

If memory serves (and it normally doesn't) I either read or heard ... or halucinated that wasps and/or hornets can and do.

[kensfarm]

I went down to the hives a little after 8pm yesterday.. the sun had already set.  The 2 hives I started in May were just hanging out..  a little bearding.. no activity.  A nuc I started 3 weeks ago was still at it.. bees flying back w/ pollen.. bees taking off..  the nuc is being fed sugar water.. but it was interesting to see such a big difference in activity between the nuc and the other established hives.  I wonder if the sugar water was giving them the zip to work overtime?

[ian michael davison]

Hi all

Bees In London have been reported working lime trees by the street lights on accasion.

Regards Ian

[randydrivesabus]

if one lives in "the land of the midnight sun" will their bees forage 24 hours a day?

[Brian D. Bray]

All of the musing is amusing.  In the real world bees do not like to fly at night.  Sure, they will under certain conditions but saying that they will under those conditions does not reflect what one encounters on a day in and day out basis.  At night, for every bee that flies there will be a hundred crawling up inside your leg.  Let's get real.

[Finsky]

I have found that bees cannot se in dim light where human still see well.

And what human see?

We we fishing with my boy on sea shore and it was dark. I cannot see my boy's face. He said that he see normaly and he may see all details on isle which was half mile away.

[Mici]

i think that bees day is as long as it really is. in the morning, when i go to work i see the first foragers flying out at 5:55 (the sun rises at 6:12) and in the evening when i'm waiting to feed them, they kinda settle down around 8 o'clock (sun sets 19:56) well, maybe their day is for an hour longer.

[Dick Allen]

My bees here in Anchorage, latitude N 61º, for the most part cease flying about 9:00 p.m. even though the sun is still up but close to the horizon. I think probably it's because the nectaries in flowers have shut down for the day.  

Those bees that fly in the tropics on moonlit nights may be pollen gatherers. Researchers like Mark Winston report that AHB gather more pollen than nothern races. Pollen, unlike nectar, will be available 24 hours.

[Finsky]

I asked today from Finnish beekeeper who has bees in Lappland. There is daylight even at night. He said that bees rest about 4 hours at night. He supposed that it is cold or flowers do not make nectar all the time.

Area  is about 66 north latitude.