Forage in pasture land, looks just grass but is it ?

[charentejohn]

Been out for a winter walk and looking at the fields.  We have monoculture in one direction and fields with cows and horses in the other.  Also some boggy land that goes down to a small stream.
I know trees provide forage, we have various types but no idea what most are.  They do have lots of Ivy for later in the year though.

When I look at the pasture I currently see short grass with occasional tufts.  In summer I have seen small white flowers and occasional bits of small yellow flowers.
Looking at it from my point of view just looks like grass and not much else, but what do the bees get out of it.  Just how good is this for their foraging in summer.  We do get long dry spells, last was 3 months, where garden grass can die off but the pastures are always green even if struggling. 

Last year the bees were foraging well and always seemed busy and bringing in stuff, just that I could never figure where from ?   

[Hops Brewster]

Honey bees don't get much out of most grasses.  But if you're seeing different flowers throughout the season you at least have some variety.  No telling what your white flowers or the yellow are without more specific information and pics.  The pasture sounds like a good spot to scatter some clovers.  Many new beeks are surprised by just how much HBs rely on trees, especially early in the season.  They see bees flying in early spring, but don't see them on the few early blooms in their yards.  Look up.  There they are!
The boggy land is usually a good spot to find different forage species, as well. 
One thing is certain, your bees are foraging far away from your own land.  Look to the neighbors' lots to find other sources of forage.

[charentejohn]

You are right about the trees, we have Lime trees they love in the spring/summer.  Mostly fields around here but a couple of keen gardeners.
Just always puzzled me as to where they go as they mostly go in the same direction, trees and boggy land.  I can't see flowers as such but they will be there.
One of those questions google can't answer because the search is too focused.  If I ask what do bees feed on apart from flowers it just sees bees + flowers and lists what they prefer.  Needs someone who knows plants to guess what is out there, I read that they collect some grass pollen but it isn't great food but better than nothing.     

[Ben Framed]

John you should have something similar in France.  If you copy and paste to google this should pop up.

Honey Plant Chart - Mississippi State University Extensionhttps://blogs.extension.msstate.edu ? files ? 2014/06
PDF
IMPORTANT NECTAR/POLLEN PRODUCING PLANTS IN MISSISSIPPI. The following is a list of plants producing nectar and/or pollen for honey bees.

[Ben Framed]

https://blogs.extension.msstate.edu/honeybees/files/2014/06/HONEY-PLANT-CHART.pdf

If that did not work try this.

[charentejohn]

Thanks, been out again and looking at the trees and hedges, no idea what I am looking at and no leaves at the moment don't help   
My brother in law knows trees but not here at the moment.  That said I can ask him about meadaows.
I tried being clever and searched for botany meadow flora thinking it would help but just lists of plants generally.

[Hops Brewster]

It is understandable that when you look for flowers that you are looking for the bright, colorful blooms you see in gardens and on fruit trees.  But often times, tree blossoms aren't flashy at all.  Example, silver maple, the first tree to bloom in my neighborhood, long before leaf-out (coming soon, in about 2  or 3 weeks) are small with tiny brown petals and light brown or pale yellow centers.  The silver maple blooms don't look much like flowers, but they are flowers.  They are usually assumed to simply be leaf buds.  Other tree species that are important to honey bees also have subtle or disguised blooms, such as box elder, chinese elm, mountain maple etc.

[BeeMaster2]

Hops,
Black gum, Tupelo, has tiny green flowers. They look like someone removed all of the petals. Very hard to see from the ground. They are very tall trees and most of the blooms are up high.  I usually look for broken branches to see if they are blooming.
Most of the flowers that our bees use for spring nectar are very small, gallberry are only 1/4? in diameter, same with palmetto, black gum is even smaller, about and 1/8?.

[charentejohn]

That is very interesting both of you on stuff too small to see, hadn't considered that.  My brother in law had no idea on meadows as such, just that they contain various plants.
My lot do okay and probably based on hedgrews, trees, brambles etc.

[van from Arkansas]

Honey bees don't get much out of most grasses.  But if you're seeing different flowers throughout the season you at least have some variety.  No telling what your white flowers or the yellow are without more specific information and pics.  The pasture sounds like a good spot to scatter some clovers.  Many new beeks are surprised by just how much HBs rely on trees, especially early in the season.  They see bees flying in early spring, but don't see them on the few early blooms in their yards.  Look up.  There they are!
The boggy land is usually a good spot to find different forage species, as well. 
One thing is certain, your bees are foraging far away from your own land.  Look to the neighbors' lots to find other sources of forage.

Hops, good evening.  Agree with the tree flowers.  My area, N. Arkansas, is a land of hills and hardwoods.  In April, in every direction I look, I see trees, white or pink flowers that encase the entire tree like a jacket.  Some trees 30 feet while others such as wild plums are 8 feet both covered in blooms.  My bees select specific trees at specific a time of day for the most prolific nectar flow.

I thought a flower bloomed, produced nectar and pollen, that is it, simple I thought.  However I learned that flowers produce a PEAK flow of nectar at a given time of day.  Not to the minute rather a general time such as early or late morning or afternoon.  The bees learn this PEAK flow time period and optimize the efforts of the forager honeybees.

The more I learn about the intelligence of honeybees the more I humble myself.  Pound per pound, brain cell to brain cell, a honeybee is a superior intelligent creature that can blow me and my brain knowledge away when comparing apples to apples or specifically:  bee brain size compared to man brain size.  The bees have us whipped as far as intelligence is concerned;

1.  math skills(comb building),
2.  ventilation
3.  GPS (mapping),
4.  dancing,
5,  communication: pheromones
6.  Site, 5 eyes,
7.  ability to warm in winter and cool in summer,
8,  collection of resources,
9.  gang protection of the hive,
10. nursing,
11. sanitation,
12. care or disposal of a queen,
13. Poop flights to maintain cleanliness
14. Speaking of clean, one can eat honey out of the hive, no need to wash.
15. No mold, no mildew, no fungus, no dirt.  Nothing cleaner in nature than a healthy hive.
16. Ok, what did I leave off? Please feel free to add.

Are you convinced?  Honeybees are super intelligent, more than I, comparing number of brain cells to number of brain cells.

Health to All,
Van

[Ben Framed]

Good points, which equal; structured, systematized, and productive.

[.30WCF]

Honey bees don't get much out of most grasses.  But if you're seeing different flowers throughout the season you at least have some variety.  No telling what your white flowers or the yellow are without more specific information and pics.  The pasture sounds like a good spot to scatter some clovers.  Many new beeks are surprised by just how much HBs rely on trees, especially early in the season.  They see bees flying in early spring, but don't see them on the few early blooms in their yards.  Look up.  There they are!
The boggy land is usually a good spot to find different forage species, as well. 
One thing is certain, your bees are foraging far away from your own land.  Look to the neighbors' lots to find other sources of forage.

Hops, good evening.  Agree with the tree flowers.  My area, N. Arkansas, is a land of hills and hardwoods.  In April, in every direction I look, I see trees, white or pink flowers that encase the entire tree like a jacket.  Some trees 30 feet while others such as wild plums are 8 feet both covered in blooms.  My bees select specific trees at specific a time of day for the most prolific nectar flow.

I thought a flower bloomed, produced nectar and pollen, that is it, simple I thought.  However I learned that flowers produce a PEAK flow of nectar at a given time of day.  Not to the minute rather a general time such as early or late morning or afternoon.  The bees learn this PEAK flow time period and optimize the efforts of the forager honeybees.

The more I learn about the intelligence of honeybees the more I humble myself.  Pound per pound, brain cell to brain cell, a honeybee is a superior intelligent creature that can blow me and my brain knowledge away when comparing apples to apples or specifically:  bee brain size compared to man brain size.  The bees have us whipped as far as intelligence is concerned;

1.  math skills(comb building),
2.  ventilation
3.  GPS (mapping),
4.  dancing,
5,  communication: pheromones
6.  Site, 5 eyes,
7.  ability to warm in winter and cool in summer,
8,  collection of resources,
9.  gang protection of the hive,
10. nursing,
11. sanitation,
12. care or disposal of a queen,
13. Poop flights to maintain cleanliness
14. Speaking of clean, one can eat honey out of the hive, no need to wash.
15. No mold, no mildew, no fungus, no dirt.  Nothing cleaner in nature than a healthy hive.
16. Ok, what did I leave off? Please feel free to add.

Are you convinced?  Honeybees are super intelligent, more than I, comparing number of brain cells to number of brain cells.

Health to All,
Van

You are making me feel dumber than an insect. I bet if they go African, I?m better at a gasoline throwing contest.


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[Dan D]

I don't know anything about what's in France, but I am surrounded by pasture, areas of trees and a small amount of tilled ground.  The pastures don't look like much for bees this time of the year, but they will produce a lot of dandelions in some of them here.  They can produce sweet clover and other summer blooms, and they can produce a lot of goldenrod in the fall too.  A lot of forage comes out of road ditches and creek bottoms. There are trees that can produce a lot of nectar here, maples, black locust, Russian olive, basswood,  fruit trees and I don't know what all else. When black locust blooms here I can get 50 pounds in a hive in a week or 10 days. Maples are big and important here in the spring.

If you are just starting beekeeping, you will over time most likely see an abundance of bloom much of the year that you didn't notice before.

[beesonhay465]

here in north east ks there is a street about 3 blocks from my house ,lined with some kind of oak tree . they produce tons of pollen. so much that people think there cars have been covered with some orange paint overspray. when i had bees they loaded up with it .

[Acebird]

We have monoculture in one direction and fields with cows and horses in the other.

Monoculture is a death sentence to bees.  Both because of the lack of forage over time and the chemicals that come along with the practice.  I few number of hives can survive because there is foraging in the other fields or at the edges if that isn't completely eliminated.