BEE CHRONICLES JUly 2012

15^TH of June: My mine is bumfuzzled. Sourwood is starting and I can’t figure out what to do. Way back in mid-April there was a frost. I figured sourwood would not be damaged. The trees were not even showing leaf buds. Well guess again. I have no blooming sourwood at my house. In Clarksville, GA the sourwood trees have no blooms at the top of the trees but they do have lower blooms. In Lakemont, Ga, the blossoms are starting to fall. Cleveland, GA is in full bloom. Hayesville, NC is in full bloom. Around Union county, some valleys have good sourwood bloom and some do not. I am a “do not valley”. So I am scrambling to find a place to move my bees to in order to get sourwood honey. Two weeks have nearly passed since I started this epistle. Now my bees are collecting honey, but I don’t see much sourwood in bloom in my neighborhood.

This is also the time of year to visit your long lost cousins at a higher elevation. These folks may not even remember that they are your cousins. But, how could the question the veracity of an innocent looking beekeeper. Since we had a poor spring nectar flow, it would be advantageous to move your hives up hill after the sourwood is finished in your area. This will give you a longer sourwood collection period.

There are no guarantees here. Last year the hail and heavy rainstorms tore the blossoms out of the sourwood trees at higher elevation.

What else should you be doing? You can never just sit and watch your bees collect honey. You have to be thinking ahead to what is next. Make sure you have enough honey supers ready just in case the sourwood nectar flow is extra long. Several years ago it went 7 weeks. Also, a different several years ago it only lasted 3 weeks. So you have to be ready to add supers or subtract supers.

See the attached article about “robbing honey” for good guidance on subtracting supers.

Eventually (soon) you will need to be ready to extract your honey. Make sure all your equipment is clean and ready to go. Also, make sure you have enough storage capacity (plastic buckets) to hold the optimistic outlook of a good nectar flow. If you are working with a friend or mentor (using their equipment) remind them that you are available to help them with their honey. That is the hint that will remind them that last winter they invited you to use their equipment. Too many bee stings make old beekeepers forgetful.

So far this year has been a fairly poor honey crop. A good guess would be 1/3 of the normal crop. Some people with just a few bees have done okay for family consumption. However, the large sideliners and commercial beekeepers are low in the north end of the state. I have heard that the tupelo crop in South GA was off this year also. But, hey, there are always weeds out there.

My bees have been collecting enough nectar to raise nice families of brood. All my hives are doing real well right now. Some better than others but that is normal. I have pulled off nucs with queen cells to start new queens. I have started several people with new hives. These are indicators that the bees are doing their part. I have been doing my part as evidenced by no major swarming, and no colony collapse. But, not much honey. Two out of Three is not bad except the two are the ones that cost me money and the one is the place I am supposed to pay for the first two. Isn’t beekeeping fun.