Welcome, Guest

Author Topic: not to pleasant of a smell.  (Read 3549 times)

Offline PLAN-B

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 248
  • Gender: Male
  • When all else fails go to PLAN-BEE
not to pleasant of a smell.
« on: October 20, 2013, 03:13:08 pm »
Went in the back a few minutes ago just to take a peek at my three hives and typically i can smell a very nice floral aroma near the hives. There is plenty of activity with all three hives and lots of pollen coming in, but the smell is unpleasant to say the least. Is this due to the type of flowers they are visiting or is something askew in the hives and i need to take a peek inside? Any advice is welcomed.
Marshall

Offline iddee

  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 10853
  • Gender: Male
Re: not to pleasant of a smell.
« Reply #1 on: October 20, 2013, 03:14:36 pm »
The aster is producing. Enjoy it.
"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me . . . Anything can happen, child. Anything can be"

*Shel Silverstein*

Offline AllenF

  • Galactic Bee
  • ******
  • Posts: 8192
  • Gender: Male
Re: not to pleasant of a smell.
« Reply #2 on: October 20, 2013, 03:20:00 pm »
Or the Goldenrod. 

Offline PLAN-B

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 248
  • Gender: Male
  • When all else fails go to PLAN-BEE
Re: not to pleasant of a smell.
« Reply #3 on: October 20, 2013, 03:37:32 pm »
I'm in southeast Louisiana about ten miles west of Hammond. Didnt realize we had aster this far south. So most likely just smelly pollen and nothing to worry about... thanks guys...
Marshall

Offline 10framer

  • Super Bee
  • *****
  • Posts: 1701
Re: not to pleasant of a smell.
« Reply #4 on: October 20, 2013, 05:23:48 pm »
If it smells like stinky feet it's goldenrod.

Offline Carol

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 380
  • Gender: Female
    • critters and crawlers visiting or living in my back yard
Re: not to pleasant of a smell.
« Reply #5 on: October 20, 2013, 05:39:13 pm »
I've noticed an odd smell everynow and then...and I think we do have goldenrod nearby. I think it is goldenrod...not sure.



I am amazed at how little I know about the plants in my area...never really looked until I got the Honeybees and started out with my bike and camera to see what they were working on.

Offline PLAN-B

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 248
  • Gender: Male
  • When all else fails go to PLAN-BEE
Re: not to pleasant of a smell.
« Reply #6 on: October 20, 2013, 05:47:43 pm »
stinky feet in a floral kind of way... that might be a good explanation ....lol :-D
Marshall

Moots

  • Guest
Re: not to pleasant of a smell.
« Reply #7 on: October 20, 2013, 06:31:31 pm »
Goldenrod  :-D

Offline GSF

  • Galactic Bee
  • ******
  • Posts: 4084
  • Gender: Male
Re: not to pleasant of a smell.
« Reply #8 on: October 20, 2013, 10:11:10 pm »
I'm glad folks on here started talking about the goldenrod smell a few weeks back. Being a new beek I would have about guaranteed that something had went wrong in the hive and I'd been all in it. I would have probably guessed SHB/Waxmoth slim job.

Sometimes I can smell it a good piece off.

Carol; That flower doesn't resemble the goldenrod around here. That looks more like a stalk and what we have around here is more numerous in blooms and more bushy. It could be a different variety.
When the law no longer protects you from the corrupt, but protects the corrupt from you - then you know your nation is doomed.

Offline RHBee

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1095
  • Gender: Male
  • That's my pooch.
Re: not to pleasant of a smell.
« Reply #9 on: October 21, 2013, 11:39:49 am »
I noticed the stink and thought I had some brood disease. Opened up one of my hives just to find it was a combination of "bee bread" and goldenrod. Quite a unique smell. I added supers of drawn comb to the colonies that are working hard just to see if they will pull in some excess. Goldenrod is in full bloom here. I wouldn't mind having a little stinky honey.
Later,
Ray

Offline Carol

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 380
  • Gender: Female
    • critters and crawlers visiting or living in my back yard
Re: not to pleasant of a smell.
« Reply #10 on: October 21, 2013, 03:29:47 pm »
I looked out into the tree farm and there is a lot of bushy, feathery stuff...I think that is the goldenrod. I'll see if I can get a picture of it. When I first noticed it and read about the guy losing a hive to SHB slime...I opened the broodnest and pulled a frame...everything looked good...no larva on the bottom board so didn't go any farther...but maybe I should do a thorough check.

Offline 10framer

  • Super Bee
  • *****
  • Posts: 1701
Re: not to pleasant of a smell.
« Reply #11 on: October 22, 2013, 12:00:35 am »
carol you may be describing rag weed, i think of it as kind of feathery. 

Offline MsCarol

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 135
  • Gender: Female
Re: not to pleasant of a smell.
« Reply #12 on: October 22, 2013, 12:40:17 pm »
Carol,

Is the "feathery" stuff a pale yellowish green? About 4' tall (can be shorter or quite a bit taller depending on soil)? I am thinking Dog fennel. (eupatorium capillifolium )

I lived in FL in Volusia county and our pastures were often filled with Dog Fennel. There is some growing here as well. I have not noted if the bees pay much attention to it.

It does stink.....OK has a strong scent!!

Offline Carol

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 380
  • Gender: Female
    • critters and crawlers visiting or living in my back yard
Re: not to pleasant of a smell.
« Reply #13 on: October 22, 2013, 03:01:29 pm »
I have been looking at Golden Rod...there are all kinds...the closest I could find was  Pinebarren Goldenrod, Solidago fistulosa  ..at least it looked a lot like the picture I saw. The Honeybees LOVE IT..whatever it is....and not more than a few hundred feet (in a bee line) from my hives. This is just one small patch.


 



Offline Joe D

  • Super Bee
  • *****
  • Posts: 2246
  • Gender: Male
Re: not to pleasant of a smell.
« Reply #14 on: October 23, 2013, 12:52:58 am »
Golden Rod does stink until the bees get it made into honey and then they cap it.  We usually leave it for the bees to winter on.  The first year I had bees, I thought something was dead in the bee yard.




Joe

Offline JP

  • The Swarm King
  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 11709
  • Gender: Male
  • I like doing cut-outs, but I love catching swarms!
    • JPthebeeman.com
Re: not to pleasant of a smell.
« Reply #15 on: October 23, 2013, 02:29:55 am »
Marshall, what you are smelling is 100% Goldenrod. It is still in bloom, funky smell but actually really good honey, golden yellow in color. Just harvested 3.5 gallons of it myself.


...JP
My Youtube page is titled JPthebeeman with hundreds of educational & entertaining videos.

My website JPthebeeman.com http://jpthebeeman.com

Offline gov1623

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 135
  • Gender: Male
Re: not to pleasant of a smell.
« Reply #16 on: October 24, 2013, 12:47:29 pm »
Yes we do have asters, its full of them around my house. Goldenrod is probably what your smelling. I noticed my hives were smelling stronger than usual so I decided to take a peak. Lets just say I wont be getting goldenrod honey this year. All the new goldenrod nectar is fermented in the suppers. It is the same in all 30 of my hives. The nectar is full of bubbles. Hope this isn't the case for you.
Who Dat!!!

Offline deknow

  • Field Bee
  • ***
  • Posts: 876
  • Gender: Male
    • Golden Rule Honey, LLC
Re: not to pleasant of a smell.
« Reply #17 on: October 24, 2013, 03:42:20 pm »
Might it be worth trying (while it is still rather warm) putting the fermented supers under the broodnest and letting the bees move the honey up?  I've suggested this to a friend in VT who had some boxes of fermented honey it it worked great...in the spring :)

deknow