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Friday, April 11, 2014

Pussy Willow Bloom 2014

The pussy willow is in full bloom today, and the bees are all over it!  This is always an exciting day for me.  In my mind at least, this the beginning of bee season.  This is the first bloom that is visible and allows the bees to bring in large amounts of pollen.  It could very well be that the bees are able to get some nectar from the pussy willow as well, but I do not know for sure either way.

The main nectar flow that really allows the bees to pack away a lot of honey begins with the alfalfa bloom sometime in June.  I have kept track over the years and have learned that the alfalfa bloom begins about 70 days after the pussy willow bloom.  Since the pussy willow bloom is happening today, April 11th, I can plan on honey production moving into high gear on about June 20th.  There will be smaller nectar flows between now and then- dandelions, fruit trees, etc.  Let bee season begin!

Below are a series of pictures of the bees on the pussy willow today.

 








 
 
Finally, I took this little video of the bees in the pussy willow.  Hopefully you will be able to see all the activity.  At the end I held the camera up in the middle to try to pick up the hum of the bees, so turn your speakers up.
 


 

3 comments:

Jim Davis said...

Hey, great photos both of the bees and the blooms. Very cool.

Unknown said...

I agree great photos. We are a little ahead of you all here in GA we have been getting bee swarm calls for the last 3 to 4 weeks and have had flowers in bloom much longer. We own nuisance wildlife removal company and get to see and work with swarms every season and get to educate people on just how valuable bees are (we come across people that spray them with pesticides)to our survival. Again great pics and blog page.

Jim Davis said...

Hi. How are your bees doing? Still beekeeping? Haven't heard from you in awhile!

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