Bees Collecting Pollen

Today was a busy day around here!

Yesterday it started raining around 10:00 a.m and it didn’t stop until around 6:00. So nothing got done after we set up the bee hives.

Today was sunny and beautiful outside with the temperature reaching 82 degrees. So with all the rain and today’s heat, weeds decided to raise their ugly heads! Which means I was out in the garden waging war! We also finished up the poles in the Blackberry beds, planted some seeds in the vegetable garden, checked on the new bee hives and made an outdoor playpen for the baby chicks, and grilled out and had some friends over for dinner.

A pretty awesome day!

The bees were out in full force today. They were working away collecting pollen and coming back loaded down.

Bees have something called ‘pollen baskets’ on their legs. This is a large flat space or hollows on their hind legs surrounded by hairs to make the ‘basket.’ The inside of their legs have lots of hairs that make brushes or combs. The pollen sticks to the hairs and the bee gathers the pollen together to mixes it with a bit of nectar to make it sticky and packs it into the pollen basket.

The Lily of the Valley is blooming right now, which the bees have been visiting.

The Dwarf Lilac trees are blooming, which smell divine!

I also have beautiful Wood Hyacinth, Spanish Bluebell ‘blue queen’ blooming which looks wonderful in the garden!

I also decided to allow the chicks to have some outside time since it was so warm. I thought a small outside “chick playpen” would be a nice treat for them.

I took a short run of chicken wire, doubled it over itself and rolled it into a circle and then hammered to stakes into the ground to secure it. I draped a towel over the chicken wire where it met. I was just worried about any sharp edges. I am using the rule of thumb that chicks will get into any trouble they can find. 🙂 They were a little unsure at first, but took no time at enjoying themselves! A few pics down you can see the old adage “the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence” holds true with chickens too!