Category Archives: TwoBigCats Bee Team

Yellow pollen on bee pictures…

Fuzzy and I had lunch today so I asked him what the likely source was for the yellow pollen the bees were carrying in by the pound. He said he didn’t know for certain but thought it might be from Acacia trees. (Interestingly enough – at least to me – I had exactly the same response to that as I did to Scott when he said he wanted to play the oboe: HUH? What’s an Acacia / oboe look like? Yep, as more than one wife has told me, I was clueless.)

Anyway, on our way home after lunch we stopped by his house to check out the bee activity on his large almond tree. One of my questions to him was, “How much nectar does an almond tree produce?” Didn’t know. (who would, anyway?) So then I said, “What color is it’s pollen?” and we both leaned in to discover the pollen on the ends of the pollen-thingies was (drum roll, please!) bright yellow.

Ah, perhaps that’s what the TwoBigCats Bee Teams have been bringing in.

In writing this post, I looked up a bit on almond tree pollen and found this interesting article:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100128091750.htm

As spring approaches and bee-related activities pick up, I can’t help but marvel a bit at the interesting journey in to self-education that beekeeping provides. (I know Alan and Jimmy Dale will chuckle at this – as they shake their heads in complete agreement – but I was never a “science guy”… I was damn lucky to escape with a C. But these little side-trips in to science / nature / math that come with being a beek are really interesting. Ok, self-discovery segment is over now 😉

That’s it for today. When it warms up tomorrow, I’ll head out to the hives for a little maintenance and installation of the first honey supers.

Overnout.