bees in high winds?????

[Hivehead]

Will bees stay inside during periods of high winds in warm weather?  90 degrees and gusts of 40 to 60 mph or better?  I hope so.

Also, any recommendations on an in depth book of bees and their behavior, etc., rather than just some of the more simple stuff?

Thanx...john

[Bill W.]

I live in a very windy spot on the coast and find that the bees fly under almost any wind.  When it gets above ~25MPH, they do a funny hopping kind of flight, where they fly up to about five feet off the ground, then back down to the ground, perhaps even stopping there for a rest.  They repeat this arc until they get where they're going.

My feral bees are happier in the wind than my Italians.  Both with fly under just about any wind up to 50MPH, but there will be less Italians coming and going than on a normal day, while the ferals appear to be flying their usual numbers.

I don't know about high heat - I almost never hits 90 here.

[SgtMaj]

Is 90 high heat?  90 is a pretty regular temperature around here.

[Jerrymac]

90  :? Time to get out the sweaters  :-D

[Jerrymac]

I posted this a while back

http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,15872.msg115003.html#msg115003

[Hivehead]

Thanks for the link...high heat....well, for here 90 is pretty warm.

[Jerrymac]

The rest of this week is expected to be, Wed 94, Thur 97, Fri 98, Sat 92. That is cool from the 105 temps we had a couple of weeks ago.

[Two Bees]

According to the Beekeeper Test that you can take on this site, bees typically will not fly if the winds are over 25 MPH ( I missed that question!).  Perhaps your bees are going to prove the research people wrong!

[Bill W.]

Also, any recommendations on an in depth book of bees and their behavior, etc., rather than just some of the more simple stuff?

Biology of the Honey Bee by Winston.

[derrick1p1]

I guess those are some pretty determined bees flying in that kind of wind.

Mid 90's here today.  Humidity low.  So all in all....nice day.  We'll hit triple digits soon enough.

[Brian D. Bray]

According to the Beekeeper Test that you can take on this site, bees typically will not fly if the winds are over 25 MPH ( I missed that question!).  Perhaps your bees are going to prove the research people wrong!

They will also tell you that bees won't or not likely fly in temps below 50 F but I've noted bees flying as low as 37 F on clear sunny days, even in winter.  The key here is clear, sunny, and hardly any wind.

As to the above comment, they won't leave the hive to forage but they will fly back to the hive at wind speeds of 25 MPH.

[Jerrymac]

As to the above comment, they won't leave the hive to forage but they will fly back to the hive at wind speeds of 25 MPH.

Don't know about foraging flowers but that day I posted and other days they were going for the public feeder 100 yards from the hives and the sustained winds were over 25 and they had to fly against the wind after tanking up.

[SgtMaj]

Nature has it's ways of sustaining itself, even in difficult environments.

[Michael Bush]

Typically they don't fly much at 25 mph or above, but I've seen them gathering water a couple of hundred yards from the hive.  They seem to find places where they can minimize the wind, slower currents, wind breaks etc. and take different routes coming than going.