How do I get my bees to...

[spafmagic]

I'm curious about something... I'm in the Piedmont of North Carolina, and things are winding down for the spring flow. Around the corner of my house, there's a bush of blue flowers that bloom with centralized clusters of pollen nodules separate from the flower pedals themselves. I see local bumble bees on them but not mine. Is there a way to get my bees to find this bush, short of kidnapping a hand full and shaking them onto the flower bush?

[iddee]

If there is something there for them, they will find it on their own. It may be at a different time of day than the bumble, or there may be something they like better in the area.

[spafmagic]

Ok... thank you.

[Acebird]

Are your bees bumble bees or honey bees?

[Michael Bush]

>How do I get my bees to...

http://www.bushfarms.com/beeslazy.htm#stopfightingbees

If the question in your mind starts "how do I get my bees to?" then you are already thinking wrongly. If your question is "how can I help them with what they are trying to do?" you are on your way to becoming a beekeeper.

[CoolBees]

Very solid advice from Mr. Bush - as always.

At my house last year, I noticed that the bees weren't hitting my cherries, or my pear trees, when I needed them to - because they were busy at that time with something that interested them more. My solution this year was fairly simple: More Bees (more hives & bigger, healthier hives). ... it worked. With enough bees in the field, some of them found my trees attractive at the right time - I've got lots of fruit growing now.

I use the same reasoning for the ones that drown in the swimming pool, and the ones eaten by the various birds that occasionally perch on the landing boards for a free lunch. "More" can also solve the problem. Fwiw.

(And yes - I have safe watering locations for the bees - for those that might wonder - yet some still seem determined to drown in the pool)

[saltybluegrass]

I?ve got sunflowers / zinnias / marigolds a plenty in my backyard- my bees would rather fly 3 miles away I guess.
But reading that bees know what to bring home for the hives immediate needs including (medicine) I realized they gonna do what they gonna do

[spafmagic]

Are your bees bumble bees or honey bees?

They are honey bees.

Thank you everybody for your input. =^_^= it has all been assimilated.

[spafmagic]

Rather than make a new thread, I may as well post here... just recently I realized I might have goofed on something.

I'm taking care of two hives for somebody who admitted to not knowing a thing about taking care of them. Both of the hive started off as swarms. Both were acquired one week after the other. Hive 1 had the advantage of starting with 4 drawn-out frames for the queen to lay in immediately.

Not long ago, I put my Flow Hive super on hive 1. After I saw that the bees were taking to the super, I looked as carefully as I could to make sure the unmarked Queen was not in the super before putting an excluder under it. I would say it's been about a week and a half since I put the excluder down. I just did an inspection and saw. no eggs in the brood box... just capped brood. So I took the excluder off and put the super back on. I'm figuring I might have trapped the queen in the super, so I'm going to wait about three days, maybe four, then go back in to see if eggs are being laid. If not, I think I may need to requeen Hive 1... does that sound about the right thing to do?

For Hive 2, they only had wax foundation to start with. For some time, they have been hanging on 3 and 1/2 frames of drawn comb and haven't expanded beyond that, despite that the queen has been laying. So I staggered the frames they've been stagnating on, with blank frames between them. Do you suppose that would help them realize they need to draw more comb?

[Acebird]

Are your bees bumble bees or honey bees?

They are honey bees.

Thank you everybody for your input. =^_^= it has all been assimilated.

Honey bees don't always forage on the same flowers that bumble bees do.

[Acebird]

I just did an inspection and saw. no eggs in the brood box... just capped brood.

Is there room and resources in the brood box to make bees?

[spafmagic]

There's plenty of room for the queen to lay eggs along with resources in the frames. There's just no eggs. Just scattered late-stage brood being capped. Which makes me wonder whether or not the queen died, or she was just trapped in the super.