Bucks County Beekeepers Seminar Day has three hour long talks and each one I have seen has been of a high quality and has highlighted aspects of beekeeping or related life to an extent that has almost surprised me. They are not lightweight talks and sometimes the quality of questions from the audience makes me feel I have an awful lot still to learn.
There is just so much about pollen that is interesting. The pictures of grains through a microscope shows a world of colour and an intricacy that is reminiscent of Spirograph images or fractals. A mix of beauty and precision. The surprises don’t end there.
Not all pollen is equal in terms of the protein it can provide to the hive. Nor do the bees always go for the pollen that has the greatest protein yield. Field bean pollen is higher in protein than oil seed rape pollen but the bees addiction to the latter is almost legendary. The bees do so many things well I imagine they must have a good reason for this.
Just found this which I forgot tp publish.
I find pollen fascinating too. The Bucks beekeepers really know their stuff, I’ve been using their notes for my module exams.
Yes, they seem to be good as far as education is concerned. The ‘bees in the Curriculum’ pack was an initiative from the current president or chairman – I forget which she is. MBBKA has useful respources, too. HWBKA is starting an interesting idea of collecting swarms and ‘quarantining’ them to avoid disease spread. The BKA groups are such a good resource as is the Beekeeper’s forum online. joining a BKA saves money in the long run.