Da' Bees!, Da Bees!!, Look Boss, Da Bees!!!

[Diggin It]

Happy little bees.

They're everywhere! Billions and billions (he says he never said that) of 'em.

I've got quite a bit of clover in the lawn. When it's in bloom, I mow a section and leave a few other sections, then rotate over the summer so they always have lots of it to choose from. A couple of sections might not get mowed until Fall.

 

[RalphVa]

I've clover all over the place and happily seeing some insects on the blossoms. LOTS better than a desert of pure green.

 

[ruffdog]

Lots of clover here and no reason to mow as it's not growing. We are having our August weather now and the grass is going brown. Weather guy says we are 7" of rain behind for the year now.

 

[Wagtail]

There are 3 types of bees, here in Tasmania: Native bees, tiny things with no stingers. European honey bees and bumblebees.

Tasmania is the only State in Australia that has bumblebees. They escaped from an enclosed pollination experiment and are now all over the island.

 

[Frankenkubota]

I keep hearing bees are dying off? A friend worked for a guy who built a scale to monitor the weight of hives in real time, hooked to the cellular network.

I guess if the hive looses weight quickly, they are dead and must be removed so as not to infect the others.

 

[MoKelly]

There are 3 types of bees, here in Tasmania: Native bees, tiny things with no stingers. European honey bees and bumblebees.

Tasmania is the only State in Australia that has bumblebees. They escaped from an enclosed pollination experiment and are now all over the island.

Escaped from an experiment? Does this mess up the balance of nature? Are they 4 feet tall?

MoKelly

 

[ruffdog]

I took a look at my clover and I still don't have many bees. Darn. I saw 2 bumble bees in the large pink clover and 2 honey bees in the small pink/white clover. Then there were several very small bee type things and butterflies.

 

[Diggin It]

^^ I swear they have shifts or schedules of some kind. I'll look and see just a few scattered. Then look again a few hours later and they're all over.

 

[/pine]

This time of year bee keepers from over a hundred miles away and from two other states bring their bees here for the Sourwood bloom...they get a lot more for the honey...
...personally I grew up on orange blossom honey and not much else compares IMO...

 

[Wagtail]

Escaped from an experiment? Does this mess up the balance of nature? Are they 4 feet tall?

MoKelly

Nah, they're not frankenbees. But there are definitely two distinct species that have spread over the State. Medium size with a white band and big, fat ones with a yellow band. The balance of nature hasn't been harmed and they're good for pollinising.

They really like the colour 'blue' and will always 'check me out' if I'm wearing that colour clothing. Very gentle creatures.

 

[Alien]

There are Bumbles in New Zealand. I took my Aussie wife for a trip a few years ago to meet family and she was fascinated by the bumbles there. The fur got her in. She still talks about them. Better send some up here Wagtail. My first ever bee sting when I was about 3 was from a bumble I tried to catch.

 

[Tinhack]

I think I have some African Bees here. I haven't been able to locate the hive yet but when I do, they'll be dead.

I was mowing today and had some buzzing around me and kept hitting me in the head. No stings but they were hitting me. I put the Bad Boy ZT Mower's 9mph limit to the test and beat-feet out of there. A couple of weeks ago, I was stung by one right next to the eye. I've had bees and wasps go after the machines I was on before but never had any go after ME on a machine. That's crazy. They usually go after the noise/vibration. Not these bees. They must have some kind of heat/infrared vision to distinguish a live body.