# Dark pollen, propolis maybe?



## fieldsofnaturalhoney (Feb 29, 2012)

IMO, not safe 😁...,
I too have seen pollen begin to come in, slighty lighter color..& the 5 day pollen forecast for my neck of the woods is 6.7-9.8 during these days.


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## VanceLane (Jul 1, 2021)

fieldsofnaturalhoney said:


> IMO, not safe 😁...,


Lol she seemed perfectly content resting there, I had to take a picture


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## Kuro (Jun 18, 2015)

Elm and poplar should produce somewhat grayish pollen (click links for photos). If silver maple pollen is like that of red maple, it should be light greenish or yellowish. Bright red pollen maybe from deadnettle. 

But I have never seen such a dark pollen this early in the season (some poppies do have very dark colored pollen). Maybe propolis, maybe your neighbor is feeding some weird colored pollen sub (BeePro looks light brownish or tan)????


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## fieldsofnaturalhoney (Feb 29, 2012)

VanceLane said:


> Lol she seemed perfectly content resting there, I had to take a picture


I was referring to not safe to assume propolis (although it does look to have a stickiness to it) My point is, natural pollen has begun to be collected in CO. Check out the pollen forecast in your neck of the woods (pollen.com), you may be surprised..


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## VanceLane (Jul 1, 2021)

Kuro said:


> Elm and poplar should produce somewhat grayish pollen (click links for photos). If silver maple pollen is like that of red maple, it should be light greenish or yellowish. Bright red pollen maybe from deadnettle.
> 
> But I have never seen such a dark pollen this early in the season (some poppies do have very dark colored pollen). Maybe propolis, maybe your neighbor is feeding some weird colored pollen sub (BeePro looks light brownish or tan)????


there are A LOT of elms surrounding my hives, I’ve been seeing this dark stuff since before I saw the earliest poplar, but the girls might have found something I haven’t, very likely actually.

I do have a lot of neighbors with hives as well, robbing and others management has been something I’ve had to factor in with my limited experience with bees.


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## Kuro (Jun 18, 2015)

Hmmm, the photo is of English elm, so it is possible that pollen from American elm is darker. I kinda doubt your bees would fly very far from your hives when it is not warm enough or go after pollen sub when natural pollen is abundant nearby. 

Maybe you can shoot a nice photo of honey bees collecting elm pollen (it is very hard to find one on the web).


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## VanceLane (Jul 1, 2021)

fieldsofnaturalhoney said:


> I was referring to not safe to assume propolis (although it does look to have a stickiness to it) My point is, natural pollen has begun to be collected in CO. Check out the pollen forecast in your neck of the woods (pollen.com), you may be surprised..


thanks for the link! Those pins are all quite a ways from my rural community but juniper was not something I had considered looking for, those are beyond prolific out here


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## VanceLane (Jul 1, 2021)

CalPhotos: Ulmus americana; American Elm, White Elm


Those anthers look pretty black, I think we might have found a winner, thanks for the nudge in the right direction kuro!


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## GregB (Dec 26, 2017)

VanceLane said:


> Safe to assume propolis?


Propolis is not a typical early spring thing.
Pollen is the priority, not propolis.

You'd be suprised - there is always a nice, sunny, warm patch somewhere where the flowers are already blooming.
Most likely this.


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## usafabian (Dec 12, 2021)

Might be coffee from the compost pile. It seems it is very popular in my pile.


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