Naked Science Forum

Life Sciences => Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution => Topic started by: nicephotog on 15/11/2015 10:12:45

Title: What plant matter, when it decomposes, will attract bees?
Post by: nicephotog on 15/11/2015 10:12:45
Plant matter type for decomposition to attract bees - is what i believe apart to humidity, how bees find water.
Or...How do i build a quagmire of swamp in a small Chinese takeaway container that will smell but not produce disease from rotting and not be too oily although Eucalyptus trees in Australia would form some of the vegetable matter(leaves, stems, grass blade, root nodes, legume... which? ) base-container(for the vegetable matter to slowly rot in) that will catch water from a dripper and overflow level holes to prevent drowning.
added later (I read this and it also helped): "Plants trick honeybees with caffeine" http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/science-news/news/1000804/
(i'll just add this too about the article...) Of caffeine in pollen and plants! bees often suddenly drop from walls or from the air and "it appears to be tiredness", because they simply sit at risk where they land and after quarter of an hour if nothing reaches them in a deadly way they are obviously alive but tiredness appears to be the incapacitation(and more than likely is) , so too when they drop from the air or vertical surface into water !

This(next line) is a list of trees in NSW that are common forage, finally though, what will break-down safely as a swamp?
http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/117487/honey-pollen-flora-for-planting-nsw.pdf

But there is a detail of problem here in helping bees locate water that they will need near their hive (as beekeeper registration government rules).
One article podcast thedoc had was about plant methane , another was of insects and their reaction to methane.

So take a look at this picture of below mud under my swarm trap that did at least keep some bees this swarm season (south hemisphere), but dwindled away because of the fact these are hardened ferals that do not apparently climb into anything below 40 Litres(scientific determined research).
Just today before i wrote this i corrected the size and put the hive near the feral hive entrance, it now has two full-deep super bodies.

HOW to, help them sense water in a harsh environment at least 10 meters away from the hive dispersed around the area as "drippers"?
WHAT type of plant material is best to put into a tray for water to drip onto and decay to release methane and smell(not falsely attracting to plant type for flower) alike a swamp?... a favorite of bees and other insects just as in the picture next is showing.

http://windsolarhybridaustralia.x10.mx/beehiveSwarmTrapwaterswamp.jpg
(https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwindsolarhybridaustralia.x10.mx%2FbeehiveSwarmTrapwaterswamp.jpg&hash=c22a2b55ccb16d0cd503eac311c7350c)

The drip system will use medical drips of around 10 drops per mil around 1 - 5 drops a second , but will have a refitted 10Kg head reservoir of water.
(I found 2 liters of water drains in less than 6 hours with a tiny pin hole system , so i need to buy proper medical drips and modify the orifice to build proper drip lobes and size)

The "dripping" tray system will be my design - it requires to drain after a particular level of water to prevent the bees from drowning(if it ever reaches that - probably only overnight usually or if less used).
Bee drowning claims hundreds of bees if a water feeder tray-frame ( division board feeder https://berkshirefarmsapiary.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/102_1457.jpg ) is used inside a hive.



UPDATE

Here is a picture of the bees flying around over the semi permanent rotten water(mostly from rain - rarely from the tap ever!)
during swarming on November 20th 2015 (It was over 42 degrees Celsius that day and there were thousands of Australian sting-less bees sitting in shade among trees down in the grass).
The video is much more appreciable of this point because it shows the bees flying much better!!!

http://www.windsolarhybridaustralia.x10.mx/beeswarmandwaterquagmire.jpg
(https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.windsolarhybridaustralia.x10.mx%2Fbeeswarmandwaterquagmire.jpg&hash=9eb8bda51986cddb02fff3d8576392f8)

This video is HD of the bees flying over the muddy water.  youtube.com/watch?v=vD3rhJxW-MU

The swarm and wild hive entrance above to right of the muddy water.
http://www.windsolarhybridaustralia.x10.mx/feralbeeswarmwallabovetorightofwater.jpg
(https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.windsolarhybridaustralia.x10.mx%2Fferalbeeswarmwallabovetorightofwater.jpg&hash=f3b0b2f6def27becb06e1e338441289e)

"FOO WAS HERE"
http://www.windsolarhybridaustralia.x10.mx/foowashere.jpg
(https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.windsolarhybridaustralia.x10.mx%2Ffoowashere.jpg&hash=636b658d7dadc34b2c5f6ff4616fd380)