Bees Feeding on Grapes?

We’ve got bees feeding on grapes that we grow. Shortage of nectar availability?

(I would love to taste the honey of that!).

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People are always telling me bees don’t work grapes. I have no experience with grapes, but in my experience bees seem to work most anything under certain circumstances, if it has a flower and makes pollen.

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I think he means grapes not vine flowers.
I see bees on all sorts of fruit.

They do feed on fruit if there is a dearth and if something else pierces the skin for them, like yellow jackets or birds.

Yes, it is the grapes themselves they are feeding on. I didn’t know they did that. There are plenty of damaged grapes on the grounds, but I see them on those damaged, but still hanging on the vines as well.

The availability of flowers is clearly less than a couple of weeks ago, being in the middle of France and it almost being autumn.

I think I’m going to have to start feeding them (sugar bread).

My bees take the over-ripe grape juice as well: Bunch of winos!

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Best kind of beings, in my humble opinion!! :smile: :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::rofl::heart_eyes::woman_cook:

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Yes, mine feed on open grapes as well and blueberries if they have been pecked by birds.

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Actually, mine seem to be feeding on (preciously) unopened grapes as well. I see bees on unopened grapes, there where they are attached to the grape vine. I can’t be sure that they are actually getting some juice out of there, but I have seen them do this various times.

Reminds me of something I saw, where the bees were feeding off the sap of a tree :evergreen_tree:

With Eucalypts and some maples, I can believe that, but i have seen bees gathering propolis from pine trees which were weeping resin. They weren’t eating it, just pulling it off with their mandibles and flying away. Actually I saw quite a lot of bees doing that in the UK just last week on a warm day. That is where a lot of propolis comes from.

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If yellow jackets are becoming a problem in your place, learning how to keep these aggressive insects at bay would be your top priority. One option you’ll find on the internet would be attracting a bird that can eat wasps.