[mjrice]

I was wondering today if my bees are finding much nectar (it seems like a lot of the summer flowers have lost their bloom) but I see a lot of full pollen sacks on the girls coming home... Can I infer that if they are finding pollen then they are finding nectar too?

 

[Iddee]

NO. They can many times find pollen when there is no nectar. The only way to tell is by the weight of thehive increasing, or looking inside.

 

[rast]

A good example is Bahia grass where I am at. They will fill their legs with it. It has very little nutritional value and zero nectar.

 

[efmesch]

Checking hives earlier this summer I found one of my hives with very little added honey, but with unusually large amounts of pollen-filled cells. Couldn't figure out what had happened till I discovered a large field of sunflowers about 300 yards from the hive. My conclusion was (no guaranteeing that I'm correct) that sunflowers don't produce much nectar.

 

[riverrat]

if only nectar was like pollen we would have it whipped

 

[efmesch]

I have no complaints about the pollen stocks--come spring the bees will use it all on raising new brood. :thumbsup: