Day #215 A Taste of Pollen

I discovered the most amazing thing! When I pull out the cardboard insert from under the yellow hive, I usually find scraps of the detritus that falls from the hive – mostly small flakes of white wax, little clumps of gray grunge that I think may be propolis, and tiny yellow balls of pollen. This picture isn't the clearest, but it'll give you an idea of what it looks like.

Apparently, it’s no simple task to transfer pollen from the corbiculae (the pollen sacs on the back legs of the forager bees) to the house bees who then store it in the comb. They drop some of it, and that falls through the screened bottom onto my cardboard. There is also the occasional bee-bit, a leg, a wing, or a back end that’s gotten separated when the clean-out crew moves a dead bee out of the hive.

I decided to take a taste of the yellow stuff. It’s SWEET! It tasted like dessert. A very small dessert, since each little puff-ball is only about a sixteenth of an inch (or less) in diameter.

And, before you ask – no, I didn’t taste test the bee legs. There’s a limit to my adventuresome spirit.

BEEattitude for Day # 215:

       Blessed are those who truly pay attention to what they see, for they shall find wonders indeed in and around our hives.

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Day #201 The Grand Tour

It was so much fun Saturday when my friend Millie came by to see the bees. We walked slowly up next to the hive and settled in to watch. It wasn't much of a tour -- just two hives on my back deck -- but it sure did feel grand.

The ladies were in a fine mood, zipping into the hives with their loads of pollen, all bright yellow in the corbiculae on their back legs. Zipping out again, they launched themselves into the sunlight like tiny race horses out of the starting gate.

Millie felt like I did – that this was a sacred moment.

BEEattitude for Day # 201:

       Blessed are those who see the sacred in the everyday, for they shall hold heaven in their hearts.

One thing Fran is grateful for right now:

       Hugs from all the grandkids at Aiden’s soccer game

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Day #191 First Pollen Pocket



Public Domain Photo



Late Wednesday morning, as I sat next to the hives drinking a cup of tea, I saw a bee with those bright yellow “saddlebags” on her back legs, the corbiculae that I wrote about last October 25th on day # 14 of this blog. Those pollen pockets had been, until Wednesday, only a vague concept to me. Now, the reality of those foragers carting load after load of nectar and pollen has come home to me in a flash of insight.

In the hours since that moment, of course, I’ve seen plenty more of them, and I’m gratified to know that the trees and flowers around here are providing plenty of protein for my honey bees.

But that very first sight of that very first bee will stand out in my memory for a long time. The wonder of that bright flash of golden yellow felt like a miracle. And, I suppose, it was.

BEEattitude for Day # 191:

       Blessed are those who move slowly around our hives, for they shall see bee-wonders.

One thing Fran is grateful for right now:

       The stately ravens who stride around my front yard

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Day #14 "Ever seen a corbicula?"

Okay - I'm better today. No more sniffing in my tea.

   

Do you know what a corbicula is? Neither did I until a few minutes ago when I read it in The Beekeeper's Handbook. I think I've read about it before this, but it only this minute sunk in. A corbicula is a pollen-collecting "basket" shaped like a flattened depression surrounded by curved spines of the outside of a bee's hind legs. Worker bees have two of them, one on each back leg. When they're fully loaded with pollen, the bee looks like it's toting a pair of cute little yellow saddlebags.

I looked for a photo of a corbicula, but the closest I could find was a butterfly bush with a yellow butterfly (in my daughter's yard).

I can't wait to see my honeybees all yellowed up.Only six more months until I get the bees. Then, who knows how long it will "bee" until I see the corbiculae filled with golden particles. Reading about it sets up some glorious anticipation. Temple Grandin, in her book Animals in Translation says that anticipation is often more satisfying than the end result. I saw the movie Temple Grandin and was so impressed I'm reading her books. So far, though, she hasn't said anything about bees.

BeeAttitude for Day #14:
     Blessed are they who respect us for who we are and what we do, for they shall be satisfied with their lives.