The bees have mostly yellow pollen, and some bright orange and a mix of dirty colors but not a lot of that. The first drone bee spotted coming out of the West hive. A drone and a very light colored bee at the Center hive which has more darker bees. It really stands out.
#bees
40 posts19 participants3 posts today
Early!
A bit like #ecocide though there should never be a time for that.
Stop spraying chemical #poisons on #nature and #bees.
No excuses.
Just stop.
They are designed to kill and that is what they do.
So stop.
Stop.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Stop!
Basic bee facts every day at 3pm.
# 89
In 1945, the American Chemical Paint Company released the first US ‘residential herbicide’ 2,4-D which had been developed during WW2 as a chemical weapon to wipe out potatoes in Germany and rice in Japan.
Some of the girls came home with legs weighed down by pollen. Each day I'm noticing more pollen. It reached 70°F today so they were also more active than any other day so far. This probably sounds dumb but I just sit about 5ft from the hive and watch. They are so damn fascinating! I'm looking forward to looking in on Bee Arthur Sunday afternoon.
Have a nice evening! 
Without my glasses I thought that this was some weird dirt clump on the floor that I was about to sweep up, until I saw it moving (very slowly, I don't think it can fly right now). It's having a drink of sugar water from a jar lid and hopefully it'll perk up.
The ladies are up and working hard today. It's exciting to see more and more bees as the temperature rises. Hopefully I'll find signs of brood on Sunday and resources starting to be stored.
Have a good afternoon everyone! May the rest of the week pass quickly.
I installed my liquid feeder on the hive a few minutes ago. I'm glad because it will help jumpstart the production of comb for storage and baby bees. 
They seem to have enjoyed their sugar block though.
I'm getting pretty good at lighting the smoker and producing thick, cool smoke. I'm using a blend of cedar chips and burlap. The bees don't seem to mind me at all. I'll check on Bee Arthur this weekend.
Have a good evening! 
I took the new hive and I divided it vertically to make two 5-frame bait hives. I had a deep sized divider so I just made another one with the ability for the upper one to slot into it. It should work and I can put frames in the lower box too if I want to keep it divided this way for longer.
Now we wait for warmer, drier, less windy weather.
Late.
Yep!
Out sitting with the queens in the sunshine.
And my what a lot of queens there are.
Place is literally humming.
‘They got a message from the Action Man
We’re humming hope you’re humming too…’
#nature
#bowie
Basic bee facts every day at 3pm.
# 87
#Bumblebees leave a scent mark (a sticky secretion) behind whenever they land on #flowers and can distinguish between their own scent marks, those left by fellow nest-mates and those left behind by #bees from other colonies.
A worker bee returning at days end after a foraging flight. There are small amounts of pollen visible. Once everything is open and blooming they should return covered.
It's official, Bee Arthur, Queen of the Yellow Hive is loose! They already ate the candy plug so she walked right out and down the 3rd frame when I removed the metal disc cover. I'd have gotten her picture but she took off into the hive.
On a secondary note, notice all that bright yellow by the reduced entrance? IT'S POLLEN, THEY WERE FORAGING!!! I'll check back in on Saturday to see if Bee Arthur is laying brood.
Have a great evening friends! 
I'm seeing more bees every time I check! After work I plan on uncorking the queen cage so she can get out and start laying eggs. Ideally we'll have 50,000-60,000 bees in two brood boxes by summer.
Continued thread
Fuzzy little punks!
Three days the flowers were blooming and no insects came even though they were swarming the blueberries.
I spent over an hour hand-pollinating this bush this morning and now 3 different species of bees are visiting the flowers.
WERE THEY WATCHING ME???
Habropoda laboriosa, blueberry digger bee
Osmia taurus, tuarus mason bee
Apis mellifera, western honey bee
Howdy folks!
I’m in an early kinda humour.
If you’re enjoying the good weather in your garden/yard/patch keep an eye out for bumblebee queens out and about presently and resist the urge to tidy up. #Nature thrives in messy wild.
#gardens
Basic bee facts every day at 3pm.
# 85
Forage Basics 101:
Nectar = Carbohydrates = Sugar = Energy.
Pollen = Protein + Nutrients + Fats.
‘Bees need flowers need bees need flowers need…’
- The Bee Guy
…and you can quote me on that!
#bees
My https://wildbieneundpartner.ch #BeeHotel is running fine now for two weeks: the bees have been busy and already got 3 eggs in the observation drawer and two mudded up tubes, thus likely more there. I guess the rule or thumb is if half the tubes are full one has to buy a bigger hotel? ;)
/cc @colinpurrington #insects #bees #insecthotel
Just another scene from the observation wing of my backyard insect hotel. I don't know whether they turn around after entering or whether they back in. #InsectHotel #BeeHotel #bees #osmia #insects
Late.
But I bring you not just another great fact. Not just another bumblebee.
But a big ass dollop of the brightest yellow goodness to light up your evening after a day of resistance.
Tell me you were resisting.
You oughta!
#resist
Basic bee facts every day at 3pm.
# 84
#bees consume large amounts of oxygen but don’t breathe through noses or mouths.
Instead they draw oxygen in through holes along their bodies called #spiracles and deliver it directly to tissue and muscles.
Working on a new print about the future of pollination featuring wild native bees for Manufactured Ecosystems.
The future of pollination is a huge global concept to tackle artistically. There are issues worldwide, but they’re all local: specific species, stresses on ecosystems & remedies. You can proscribe a general policy like ‘restore habitat’ but you have to be clear that the best plants to help pollinators are those that evolved in a given place. 
This every couple of steps around the sanctuary at the moment.
The sound of #spring.
Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz buzz, buzz, no buzz, birdsong, no buzz, birdsong, no buzz, birdsong, no buzz, birdsong, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz…
Them queens be out exploring!
Simple.
Joyful.
Vital.