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.

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Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Nectar flow looks like the real deal

Driving along Hwy 36 I can see yellow sweet clover blooming in large numbers. I also see the white sweet clover getting tall. The white sweet clover is not blooming yet, but should be blooming soon. White Sweet clover and Basswoods are usually the biggest producers of honey in our area.
 Some beekeepers on overwintered colonies already have two to three supers full of nectar on their hives.
 What do you do if you run out of supers? The options are, to purchase more supers or extract the honey once the bees cap it then put the supers back on the hive.
 If a colony is getting too tall with supers, you can take any full supers off and put the supers on a hive that is not producing much at the moment. The weaker hive will take care of the honey.
 How to put honey supers on: If all you have is new supers with no drawn comb, this strategy can work. I usually put the two supers on without a queen excluder. I check the progress in the supers about every four days. When I see the bees have made some comb and some nectar in the comb, I then put a queen excluder in.
 I put on supers on all my hives yesterday. I had about twelve new supers with frames and foundation. I took some older super frames that were drawn out already and put four of the drawn frames in each new box and put on queen excluders. The bees will easily move up as the nectar comes in.
 Honey supers should be put on the hives in pairs, two supers at a time. Supers with new foundation should always be put directly on top of the queen excluder, right above the top brood box. Supers with drawn comb can be simply be stacked on top of one another. Don't pull supers and leave them off the hive. The honey supers not being tended by bees will absorb moisture from the humidity in the air. The honey in unattended super boxes will have high moisture issues and may not be Grade A honey by the time you extract it.
 Get your supers on now. I did notice a big difference in my package bee population over the last week. They went from don't need supers, to get your supers on now, over the course of a week.
 Stay ahead of the bees, when the first super is full of nectar and the bees are working in the second super putting in nectar, that is the time to add two more supers. If the supers are new, put them under these two supers that are filling up. Another option would be putting one new super under the supers with nectar in them. Add a new super to the top of the stack. Once the bees are drawing out the bottom super and adding nectar, slip the top new super underneath the stack of supers, right above the top brood box.
 The honey is coming in now, get your supers on now, they payoff of all of our spring management of our colonies is now, put a smile on your face and pat yourself on the back for getting the bees to now.