As far as I know there are no native colonies of honey bees left in Pa so any that you see are from private hives. we have plenty of them this year so somewhere in our vicinity there are some bee keepers.

I've seen only one true honeybee all year.. any other bee i have seen has been a few bumblebees , and a few miniscule bees (dont know what kind)....that has piqued my interest in urban beekeeping and I may do it if I think i can. :)

Yes.
Small beekeepers (3-5 hives ) were largely wiped out by T&V mites,spreading location to location.
Small keepers often didn't treat when required.
There are fortunate isolated places where mites didn't spread,yet.
Bumbles might even be better pollinators,perhaps we'll domesticate them.

You're right. I have oodles of bumbles but no honey bees. What a shame.I did not know about this. I truly hope they can be reintroduced at some point.

Kathy

I saw about 50 honeybees on the Perovskia at my local post office plantings ( which I maintain). There must be a hive in the area. I've also seen a few honeybees in my own garden which is probably 1/2 mile from the post office.

So far we've had tons of bumble, honey and orchard mason bees as well as countless varieties of wasps in our garden this year.

I'm actually seeing more honey bees this year than in years past.

that's weird...i hadn't even realized that i haven't seen any until i read this post. yes, plenty of bumbles, plus whatever got me on the ankle last thursday while mowing the grass.
jeez, i'm wondering how this information could have escaped my attention.

when did all of this first start?

I've been seeing lots of honeybees in western PA this year, between my garden, the rural areas around me, and up near where my father lives in a neighboring county.

I have an abundance of bumblebees also this year. They are on just about everything in the flower beds. I also have a lot of another bee of which I am not sure. They look very much like honey bees, but I have only seen a few of them with the ususal sacks of pollen on their hind legs. I think that most of what I am seeing are "drone flies". My insect book says they are very similar to honey bees, but they have 'no waist' Honey bees have a 'waist' between the thorax and abdomen. None of them sit still long enough to get a good look at them. Busy as a bee they all are!

I have a Chaste plant blooming with all its little blue flowers opening. Its full of bumblebees. I did not see a honey bee.

I saw my first one a few days ago. Since we're new to this property- and there was very little in the way of a garden up until last year- I thought that the honeybees just hadn't caught on to a good thing yet. Plenty of wasps around though, and carpenters, and some bumbles. Hope they spread the word that the free food bar is now open!

I was wondering if someone had a hive nearby too, I've seen a honeybee here and there this year after not seeing any for the last few years. More bumble bees too, maybe there's just more (flower wise) this year to draw them into my garden.

Had plenty of carpenters this spring... They came with the garden (or more specifically the garage).

I was wondering if the honeybees are wild, maybe a few colonies escaped the mites and are isolated enough to survive. (also I heard that the mites don't bother "killer" bees! maybe that's what I'm seeing, LOL)

Yesterday on the clover in my lawn..... this was a tough one to photograph since he didn't remain still.
{{gwi:59974}}

This is why we don't remove the clover in our yard, even though a sting is possible now and then :-/

Looks like an italian there in the picture.

Very few honey bees here in south central also. At any time of day I can go out and see several bumbles on my giant sunflowers but i'm lucky if I see any honeybees.

I noticed this same situation this spring when the cherry tree was in full bloom. There was no sign of honeybees or any other type anywhere during the whole bloom time. It usually buzzes with activity as there are few blooms available in that density that early in the spring. I also saw a reduction in the number of blossoms pollenated

I noticed too that we have few to no honeybees but seem to have a bumper crop of bumbles this year. On the up side I have seen little of the wasps that usually plague us.

...just started seeing them on my squash plants this past week.

I've been in my current house for three summers now, and had been seeing only bumblebees up until this year. I was pleasantly surprised to see some honeybees on my Russian sage the other day. Still lots of bumblebees, though.

Last year, I had a bumblebee living in my giant skyscraper sunflower. He would stay there overnight.

There just seems to be a lot of bumblebees this year. I'm a beekeeper with 5 hives, but when I look at my flowers, I see bumble bees too. The honeybees seem to be working clover and veggies.

I like the bumble bees but I notice they damage some of the flowers. They cheat and poke in from behind to steal the nectar from flowers they normally can't reach down into.

I have about 65,000 in my yard so I am always seeing them and rescuing them from birdbaths and ponds. This is the first winter we got thru even after treating them w/ antibiotics. I love the little girls and save every last one if they're in trouble and never get stung...

Are you talking about honey bees or bumble bees? What an interesting post and it makes me want to ask a lot of questions. How do count them,how do you treat them with antibiotics and how can you tell the girls from the boys. Tell us more!

I'd like to know, too!
My back " lawn " is mostly clover and I've watered it so there are flowers for the honeybees.
{{gwi:1110932}}

You don't have to tell the boys from the girls, because they are all girls. All working bees are infertile females.

George

So the females do all the work and the guys mate with the queen? Wow..what a life. Wonder if the drones and workers look alike? Thanks for the info.

drones are larger than workers and have no stinger. they live for one purpose only. The queen is even larger than the drones and spends the day laying thousands of eggs.

so lets all go get some honey, drizzel it on fresh hot bisquits, sit on the porch sipping our morning coffee and munching honey covered bisquits while enjoying the site of this great rain we finally are getting in south central this am.

I can almost feel my lawn stretching, yawning and turning green again.

In addition to my yard, there are lots of honeybees this year on campus where I work, which is two minutes away from my home.

I haven't been here for awhile. We have had a hive for over 15 years now. It's quite full and 65,000 is an estimate. They are all girls except for the drones who are male and are larger but lazy . They are there to make a new queen if the old one dies. She lays a lot of eggs every day. The antibiotic is applied to the hive and my husband does it so I don't know the details. In this horribly hot weather, they line my 17 birdbaths all day. I haven't been stung this year and rarely ever am..

Thanks for the info. I keep little saucers and flowerpot holders all over the property with stones and water in them. The bees are always drinking from it and the butterflies sit on the stones and drink. Its easy to forget about insects sometimes.

Good for you to think of the bees and butterflies..Bees are hugely beneficial.

glad that i remembered this thread. i haven't seen a honeybee in so long...but yesterday i heard the buzzing and saw 2 honeybees on a goldenrod. i've got quite a large area next to the driveway filled with goldenrod, and the whole are was covered with them ... not flies, but real honeybees!
i wonder why after years of not seeing any, suddenly there are so many.

Naturenut it is so funny that you brought this post up again! I was out cutting back a few plants Saturday when I saw the same thing! Honeybees! YAY!!!! I left the waterlilies alone, the bees were looking for flowers.