Bee Around Cannabis

I asked my neighbor who is a beekeeper and who gave me that huge tub of pollen if his bees eat pollen. He said they do, pollen and nectar are their 2 primary food sources.

I also asked him what he thought about bees around a field of mixed sexed cannabis, specifically regarding the pollen. He said he would think about it and get back to me.

I personally do not know but this is a dude I trust what he says.

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Larvae can be fed pollen. Bees can consume pollen in small amounts but not much. Pollen collection by bees is usually accidental. It sticks to them when they are after the nectar. Point being that the honey bee will not specifically go after pollen, which is why there is not canna honey without containment and sugar put on the plant.

Another thought, if a cannabis plant has aphids, bees will harvest the aphid excrement for its sugar content. That could be another way to make canna honey.

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My neighbor is busy but I also asked him what the granules he gave me are used for by the bees. Do you know? Itā€™s apparently nectar mixed with pollen. Notice all the different colors from different speciesā€™ blooms over the seasons. I donā€™t see why the bees would collect it in this manner if it was accidental? Didnā€™t their legs evolve to hold onto the pollen (a Velcro mechanism if Iā€™m not mistaken)?

You seem knowledgeable so Iā€™m curious to share your insight with my neighbor. That pic of pollen granules is from my freezer, I traded some flower for it lol :slight_smile:

It looks like he has a pollen trap. If you search Google images for multiflora bee pollen, you will get similar pics. Pollen does vary a lot in color by season, and so does honey. There should be just pollen in it, no nectar. The pollen trap is optional on a hive, itā€™s like a screen you make the bees crawl through to scrape off the pollen.

Hereā€™s a thoughtā€¦ Will the heat from the hive decarboxylate the thca in the comb?

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Nope, they wonā€™t get hot enough.

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Was wondering

Iā€™m about to do a little reading later but the above video raises some questions for me.

bee pollen is a superfood.

If Bee pollen is just pollen then pollen is a superfood. Which means there could be an industry for keeping males just to collect their pollen as a superfood.

Thoughts?

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You would have to keep it from molding and allergic people might be another issue, but it is a neat idea.

This article mentions that some plants can exude a sap that could be attractive to bees. I think there are some weed varieties with blood in the name because they are supposed to exude red sap.

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