Disclaimer:

This blog explains how I keep bees. It works for me, it might not work for you. Use my methods at your own risk. Always wear protective clothing and use a smoker when working bees.

Search This Blog

Friday, June 29, 2018

Honey Flow Update

I was out checking my hives this morning. It was mildly brutal in a bee suit.
 But I had put some Formic Pro on four days ago on some overwintered colonies. I decided to remove the formic strips this morning before it the day warmed up to the projected near 100 degrees. The bees were not bearding at all yet this morning, but I was concerned that two strips of formic pro, at these high temperatures, may cause me some queen and or brood loss. So I am going to call my shortened mite treatment good for now and I will treat the hives again in early August. The treatment was on at some elevated temperatures so I am sure it did have an effect on the mite level. I will do a mite check next week to see where the hive is at for mite count.
 The nectar flow is on. I do have nectar in most of my supers right now. Two of my overwintered colonies looked like they have swarmed, so the honey was a little lighter than expected in their supers.
 I have been hearing reports from several beekeepers that they have one or two supers 70% full of nectar and they were getting ready to add two more supers.
 There is white sweet clover blooming everywhere around the state right now. Driving around I see it in full bloom in huge stands in the ditches of roadways.
Summer perennials should start blooming soon.
Here is Paul's current hive scale pic. You can see that there has been a spike in honey weight. Looks like 8 - 10 lbs increase yesterday.
 If you look at the black line on the graph, that is hive weight. You can see that over the last two days it has seen a definite sharp rise.
So, if you have not put your supers on, do so now. It also looks like comb honey frames could be put in the hive now also.