MAJOR NECTAR SOURCES

Bees obtain nectar from many plants.  Here is a list of the MAJOR nectar sources in central Wisconsin.  There are also too many to mention MINOR nectar sources. 


TRESS/BUSHES

                -Black locust

                -Raspberry

                -Blackberry

                -Basswood

PLANTS

                -Milkweed

                -Asters

                -Thistle

                -Soybeans

                ‘-Sweet clover

                -Alfalfa

                ‘-Alsike Clover



The tree sources of nectar are of relatively short duration; usually less than about 10 days.  The plant sources are of longer duration.   Clovers can produce up to 500 pounds of honey per acre in good year.  As Grandpa Jack likes to say “Location, Location, Location”.  

END OF MAY APIARY REPORT by beekeeper Fred

May has drawn to a close.  Comparing with previous years it seems that this May has been cooler and wetter.  My best guess is that this has slowed hive development by roughly two weeks.  With temperatures routinely getting down into the low 40’s almost every night the bees have been going into cluster to maintain warmth.  This has slowed buildup of the hive population because the size of the brood nest is restricted.  Only in the strongest overwintered hives has buildup been normal. 

In my apiary there was one swarm, which I was able to catch.  A second hive probably swarmed based on evidence of queen cells, both capped and emerged, and a falloff in bee population.  I was also able to prevent swarming off a third hive by removing a frame containing capped queen cells and also removing three additional frames of capped brood.  This hive had 12 frames of capped brood cells!   All removed frames were used to strengthen other hives.   These actions weakened the hive enough to stifle its urge to swarm.   Three weeks later they are still in place and have not swarmed.

Some of the overwintered hives have been storing honey in the honey supers.  The strongest hives has placed honey in 7 of 9 frames of its first honey super.  (Note: I run 9 frames in my 10 frame supers.  This makes decapping easier without reducing honey volume.)    None has been capped to date.   This is even before the main honey flow, which is yet to begin.  The cooler weather has delayed appearance of clover, alfalfa, and black locust blossoms.  The only source I am seeing right now is honeysuckle blooming.

Three overwintered hives have gone queenless in May.  So far, I have been able to recover the situation on one of the three; by installing a queen.  I am still working to rescue the second and third hive.  One rejected an added queen.  I am trying transferring in frames of eggs and brood to the third. 

My queen rearing efforts have gone poorly this spring.  I haven’t been raising enough queens to even satisfy my own needs.  I don’t understand the exact reason, but I think the cold nights, which cause the bees to cluster, results in the queen cells being abandoned each night and becoming too cold.  Hopefully June will provide better weather and better success in this effort.

What’s ahead for June?

1)      Build up of nucs and new package hives will continue.  Verify they are queenright and add honey supers when the population in the second brood chamber builds to roughly seven or eight frames of bees.

2)      The potential for swarming will continue.  Monitor hives for swarm cells, monitor trees near your apiary for hanging swarms, and have swarm traps in the area to catch any swarms that get away.

3)      Keep a close watch on your honey supers.  Make sure to add additional supers when the top super becomes about ¾ full.  If you don’t add another super, the bees may backfill the brood nest with honey and thus weaken the hive.  NOTE: Just because the top honey super is full of bees does not mean they are putting in honey in that super.  These bees may just be getting away from a congested brood nest.

4)      Some beekeepers periodically rearrange the frames in the honey supers.  The bees tend to fill the center frames first and may totally ignore the outer frames.  If you see this happening rearrange the empty frames to the center position.  Some beekeepers swear this actually stimulates the bees into gathering more honey.

5)      In mid-JuneI will be performing a 50% strength treatment with formic acid to control mite buildup by using one pad of FormicPro.  (NOTE: Each packet of FormicPro contains 2 pads.)  This will be done to all hives.  The formic acid pad gets installed between the two brood chamber boxes. 

6)      Performing mite counts is also recommended.  Mite counts performed by the alcohol wash method appear to give more accurate results, but at the cost of the lives of 300 bees. 

7)      Each time you open a hive it’s a good idea to verify the hive is queenright.     

SWARM CELL IDENTIFICATION

New beekeepers follow this link for views of the various types of swarm and supercedure cells.  I have be seeing both types in various hives and nucs.  If you double click on the text below the pictures you will be forwarded to articles providing additional written descriptions.

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1104&bih=560&ei=mrvvXP-sG8vatQXKwqXoBA&q=swarm+cells&oq=swarm+cells&gs_l=img.3..0l6j0i5i30j0i8i30j0i24l2.27.3027..4733...0.0..0.103.1104.9j3......0....1..gws-wiz-img.....0.PHbN_G5z0wE

SWARM CATCHING

On the subject of swarm catching here is a link to a YouTube video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRl8SP9NkzQ

ITS HERE--SWARM SEASON!!!

Captured my first swarm of the season.  Sorry no pictures.  When I drove into the apiary all was quiet.  About 5 minutes later the bee roar started.  Over a period of several minutes a swarm issued from a hive and alit in a close by tree branch about 8 feet high. I scurried around to get the necessary equipment.  Then I backed the pickup underneath the swarm and stood on the tailgate with a cardboard box.  Shaking the branch resulted in a cascade of bees into the box.  They were immediately transferred to a spare hive.  As of 2 hours later they were still in the hive.  I put on a hive top feeder with 2 gallons of 1:1 syrup to keep them contented and to encourage drawing out of comb.  It looked to be about 5 pounds of bees. Its always nice to recover about $130 worth of free bees!

The swarm came out at about 1PM, when the temperature got up to about 65F.  The next four days will be in high 70's to low 80's and everyone should be on the lookout for swarms from strong overwintered colonies.