This can't be pollen...can it?

[heinleinfan]

My feral ladies were out and about in force today, it topped 60 degrees this afternoon despite being overcast all day.  I saw tons of ladies coming in with legs laden with pale yellow. 

Is it tree sap?  I can't even fathom where they'd be getting pollen, there is nothing growing here, nothing blooming, nothing green except evergreen trees and even those are looking brown around the gills this time of year.

Any thoughts on what they're bringing in?

I stuffed some more fondant in the hive for them but they don't seem to be too interested in it; we have nicer weather due for the next ten days but March/April usually bring plenty of snow.  I have no idea what these ferals have been surviving on, the hive was robbered out completely at the end of summer and there's not a drop of honey in it...but the cluster is quite large and they seem happy and healthy.  I have high hopes for these ladies this coming season.

[tecumseh]

some trees Heinlein fan produce a bit of nectar and pollen when you would swear they are still dormant < elm and red maple here really display this tendency.

[riverbee]

hein, like tec my guess would be pollen from maple trees.  what trees do you have in your area?

maybe this would help; go to the first post:

THE COLOR OF POLLEN

[Jen]

hein- That's exactly what happened to me a month ago! I couldn't figure out where they could be getting pollen. Then riverbee sent me The Color Of Pollen link and I found that in my area it could very well have been maples ~

[tbonekel]

It's hard for me to see anything blooming right now, but these girls can really find it. Not only that, but I saw something really cool last weekend. I was watching two of my hives and each one was bringing in a lot of pollen, but what was neat was that each hive was bringing in an entirely different color. One hive was had an orange color and the other hive was bringing in very pale yellow. I just thought it was cool how each hive had been foraging a different pollen source. Wish I new what it was. We don't have very many maple trees around here so who knows.

[litefoot]

Same here in Utah. Temperatures were only in the high 40's, but all 4 colonies were busy bringing in dull yellow and grayish pollen. It would have to be trees at this time of year; elm, alder and/or maple.

[tecumseh]

a tbone snip...
but what was neat was that each hive was bringing in an entirely different color.

tecumseh...
a couple of years ago tbone I was capturing some pollen in the early spring here at my house.  I had two robust hives with pollen traps and I would empty the trays each day.  Over a period of two or three day the pollen in one trap was all red and the pollen in the other was all yellow.

[pistolpete]

willows also bloom very early, often before all of the snow disappears.  Up here willows are the first pollen and maples are the first nectar.