Something you dont see everyday

[KeyLargoBees]

Was pulling apart some honey supers and scraping the frame rails to get them ready for the fall flow and this lil guy decided to scavenge some propolis. Its an Orchid Bee and is about the size of a normal honey bee worker but they are "hover" bees and a native pollinator in south Florida

[Hops Brewster]

That's a pretty bug.  sort of an electric green.  Around here we have blue orchard (mason) bees that aren't really blue, but black, leaf cutters look sort of like miniature honey bees or even like yellowjackets, and about the prettiest bees are the bumbles, usually yellow, yellow and black or black.
The tropics sure do bring out the color in critters.

[BeeMaster2]

Jeff,
Nice pictures.
We also have that bee up here.
Jm

[tjc1]

Great shots! I was surprised to see that your propolis looks much different from what I see - mine is like dark tan taffy. Smooth, stretchy and sticky!

[BeeMaster2]

Buds bees out in Mississippi have that same type of propolis. Everything in the hives was stuck together. Very messy to work with but if you collected propolis, they produced a lot of it.
Jim

[GSF]

Jim, that's one thing we've marveled at during bud 6. My gosh, you could measure the thickness with a ruler it was so much.

[Acebird]

Another advantage we have up here is scraping propolise off when it is cold (very brittle).  It comes off like old peeling paint, no stick.

[BeeMaster2]

Jim, that's one thing we've marveled at during bud 6. My gosh, you could measure the thickness with a ruler it was so much.

Were you the one that was collecting the propolis?

[GSF]

I got some for my personal use. There was a younger fellow who collected a lot. I may have got 2/3rds of a half pint jar. Since then I roll it up in pill like forms. Bud 6 wasn't this year or last year but the year before that. I very much want to go back over there.

[OzarksFarmGirl]

Great photos, Jeff!  We've got orchard bees here, but I've never seen them in and around the hives.

[BeeMaster2]

I got some for my personal use. There was a younger fellow who collected a lot. I may have got 2/3rds of a half pint jar. Since then I roll it up in pill like forms. Bud 6 wasn't this year or last year but the year before that. I very much want to go back over there.

I heard that Bud7 was supposed to be the last one. I suspect Buds health has gotten worse.
Jim

[GSF]

I only went to one of the Bud events but I enjoyed every second of it. Bud's a heck of a guy.

[Nugget Shooter]

Love the color and thanks for posting....