We live in the country, far from any man-made bee hives that I know of. We have a fair-sized small fruit patch and am trying to develop an orchard of approximately 100 trees. We have been told that we should be looking into mason bees, or buying/renting hives of honey bees. We further understand that the wild honey bee population has been decimated by a mite infestation.

This year, however, have noticed a major increase of honey bees in the young orchard. Bees are even working on pear blossoms, which in this area, they do not seem to favor.

I would like to know at lot more about the day to day working conditions & habits of bees. I have observed bees at work & read a lot of info on the internet - lot of info out there but none that I can locate gets to the heart of what I would like to know.

Possibly some here knows some links to information or has personal knowledge & experience along these questions:

1. What weather conditions to bees work in. Time of year they become active - either chronologically or biologically via Heating Degree Days etc. Is there a biological clock, i.e. after a certain species of plant blossoms in the spring? What effect does rain have on their activity? What effect does sunlight have - do they prefer to work in direct sunlight vs. shade - do they arise at sunrise, bed down at sunset?

2. What draws bees to the blossom initially; color, scent. Do they prefer certain colors over others etc. etc. Is there an odor or essence they are drawn to over others? I have noted color preferences in other insects - for example shot-hole borers are drawn to white etc.

3. Are bees series workers - for example, in my observations they seem to work on one specie at a time, i.e. working on a pear tree and flying past a cherry tree to work on another pear.

This year we need to make some decisions regarding future provisions for pollination - spring weather in this area is always crap-shoot and makes knowing the habits of pollinating insects all the more important to us.

It seems like at least the entomology departments of the "Land Grant Colleges" would have investigated these types of things. If anyone can point me in the right direction, I would be grateful. Will continue to search this subject and will share info back if this is of interest to others,

Thank you - Dave Steele

1.Weather conditions: It has to be warm enough for them to break the warm cluster in the hive. So above 40. Usually once the days start to get longer and as long as there is something to forage on. Usually they start cranking up with the maple blooms and dandelions. Those are usually the earliest things for them to work. Rain hampers them. Imagine getting pelted by those big workout balls. . . The clearer the day and the calmer, meaning less wind, the more will be out working. The most are out of the hive between 11AM and 2 PM.

2. Probably both color and scent. They have very good eyes adn they often work by scents. I don't know if a study has been done on that.

3. Yes they are series workers. They will work one thing until it is exhausted. That one thing is usually whatever they find first. If something comes into bloom that is closer to the hive, it will be ignored if they are already working something else.

You also may want to note that bees will fly 2-5 miles to forage. If they find something further away than your orchard they will work it until it's done. Meanwhile your stuff could come into bloom and they may never touch it.

You might want to try the beesource forum. www.beesource.com There are a number of professionals that provide pollination. You might also find a hobbyist looking for an outyard. 100 trees isn't alot so it would be a small pollination contract. You might be able to work out so you get it for free if someone is in need of an extra outyard.

Best of luck