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Author Topic: Odd Pollen Residue  (Read 2251 times)

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Offline tbonekel

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Odd Pollen Residue
« on: April 21, 2016, 07:52:28 am »
Looking at a nuk yesterday and saw this. It looks like a bee with full baskets exploded at the entrance. I scraped with my finger and it was a dry powdery substance so I'm assuming it's pollen. I haven't had a chance to do an inspection, but I think I saw them coming and going. It was late in the afternoon, so not much activity at the time.



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Offline Zweefer

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Re: Odd Pollen Residue
« Reply #1 on: April 21, 2016, 08:02:59 am »
Spontaneous bee combustion.
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Offline Lburou

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Re: Odd Pollen Residue
« Reply #2 on: April 21, 2016, 08:11:19 am »
Tbone, it is not unusual to see a pollen residue like that after a busy time raising brood.  During that time bes spend a lot of effort gathering and storing pollen.  The bees leave scent with their foot pads and tend to use the same paths to one spot at the entrance. Pollen comes loose and gets spread out, even the inside of the hive shows that residue at times.  I think of it as positive.  HTH   :)
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Lee_Burough

Offline apisbees

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Re: Odd Pollen Residue
« Reply #3 on: April 21, 2016, 02:18:04 pm »
Bees that are assigned the task of pollen gathering collect and maneuverer and pack it in their pollen baskets. With the abundance of pollen on dandelions, the nectar foraging bees also get covered with pollen held in place by the electrical static charge. Once in the hive this pollen gets brushed off the bees and falls down to the bottom board. why did it end up out one side of the entrance in the patten it is in? Bees move a great deal of air through the hive. drawing it in one side of the entrance and forcing it out the other. I believe it is the air flow created by the bees that is pushing this loose pollen out of the hive.
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