HONEY FLOW IS ON!!
Call it the main honey flow or the main nectar flow, this is the time when the greatest number of nectar and pollen producing plants are blooming, and will continue to bloom heavily until around mid-July.
Black locust and basswood trees are two of the major producers blooming now, and wild rose, birdsfoot trefoil, clover, and catmint are blooming with them.
In the next couple of weeks I expect to see acres of raspberry, mint, motherwort, milkweed, and a host of other blossoms.
The locally adapted honey bees knew when this was going to occur and that's why they started swarming 3 - 4 weeks ago. The main flow gives them their best chance to have the resources available that they need to reproduce and start new colonies that have a chance of being ready for winter.
The Colony after a Swarm/Split
The "mother" or "source" colony from a swarm may not be queenright for 2 - 3 weeks after the event, and several of my colonies were in that state last weekend. By next weekend I'm hoping that all of the colonies are queenright, and I'll be out checking.
Of my 4 queenless splits I found one queen last weekend, and the other 3 appeared to be working on it. I'm leaving them undisturbed for two weeks so as to not interfere with the process. Any colonies that aren't queenright by next weekend will get eggs and larvae from donor hives
Brood Break
An advantage of swarming and splitting is that both phenomena create a natural brood break. Because there's no bee larvae entering the pupal stage for several weeks the mites can't reproduce, except those that are already in capped cells.
A really good time for an oxalic acid treatment would be when the last of the capped brood are emerging and the new queen's progeny aren't capped yet because nearly all of the mites would be phoretic. If only one knew when that window of opportunity was present!
Food for the Bees
The nectar (and pollen) being brought in now will be used mainly to support the colonies' growth, which will grow to around 40,000 - 60,000 bees (maybe more) by July!
This is true of first year colonies from packages and nucs, splits, and swarmed colonies. As the colonies grow, so do the number of foragers. Eventually they'll be able to produce more honey than they need for immediate growth needs.
Survivors that didn't swarm or weren't split could have a large population and may already be putting on honey, but those would be rare.
Water for Air Conditioning
Foragers are probably bringing in more water than nectar right now in order to cool the hives. Bees spread the water over the pupal cappings and fan the air to remove heat through evaporation.
It's a colony's method of air conditioning and they do that to maintain the ~94F required pupal temperature.
For hives in full sun, more water will be required than for those with afternoon shade.
Single or Double Deep?
I'm debating whether to put a second deep (when they're ready) on two of the swarm colonies that I captured over the past couple of weeks, or just put on a queen excluder and honey supers and see how that goes?
I think I owe it to myself to at least try it, and I'll undoubtedly learn something from the experience. There's the risk that a colony in a single deep will expand to the point that it will swarm in July, but perhaps they won't if there's enough space for them in the supers?
The initial springtime reproductive swarm urge would have passed, and now it would be a matter of congestion.
First Year HONEY or Not
It's said that one large colony produces more honey than two small colonies, and to not expect honey from a first year colony, but I'm pretty sure that depends on the bees.
Twice over the past 9 years I have had first year package bees produce 240 lbs. of honey (starting on foundation) while the other package bee colonies, and survivor colonies, produced 35 - 40 lbs. of honey in the same apiary, all in double deeps.
It wasn't the location, and it wasn't the housing. Had to be the bees!
Don't run short of Honey frames or Storage jars!
Unassembled medium frames arrived Friday so I'll be getting more honey frames ready.
Once the season takes off I'll be replacing capped frames (as they become available) with empty frames in the supers and I don't want to run short.
Last year all of my honey frames were either in the supers, or were "wet" and waiting in the barn to go back into the hives, and I ran out of back-ups.
I assembled more medium supers and now I'm getting the frames ready.
Hot, dry summers are when the bees produce the most honey, and this season is starting out that way.
I'll wait a while yet before I order 55 gallon drums, but I did start buying pint and quart jars because of last year's experience when so many people decided to grow their own food and can it.
I do hope those people continue on doing that, and they should have last years' jars on hand, but I don't want to get caught in that predicament (not enough jars) again!
Club Pressure Washer
Jack has purchased the new club pressure washer for cleaning the extractor, and it's capable of 2,000 psi and should make extractor cleaning a breeze.
Because we'll be meeting at the Caestecker Library for our June meeting we won't see it at the RMW until July, and I don't think anyone will be extracting before that.
If you are, contact Jack to pick it up if you want to use it. And you will want to use it!
Club Hives
The club hives are looking strong (from the outside) and as of yesterday they each have 2 supers.
Kathy Hayes and I will do an inspection within the next couple of weeks to make sure all is well, and work to correct what might not be.
Next Club Meeting
Our next meeting is June 19 at the Caestecker Library in Green Lake, 9:30 a.m.
For those that haven't been there, enter through the front door and the stairway down is on the right.
Some of us will be there early to help direct you, or ask any of the librarians for directions to the meeting room.
I don't have a topic in mind, so everyone should bring one. :)
See you then...............Gerard
