Black Tupelo is being worked by the bees!
We’ve finally got some good weather here in Ontario, Canada too. Just in time for our bees to arrive last Thursday. They have already been busy around the property. Can’t wait to watch them grow and learn from them
One of our girls on the mountain ash right outside our front door
South central Pa seems to be in a nectar darth. The queens have cut way back on eggs and not much honey coming in. My clover field will bloom the end of this month but hopefully some other nectar sources show up soon. There is some clover in my pasture but apparently not enough.
Joe
Heads up Mid-Atlanic/ Northeast! I just harvested 150 lbs of honey from two hives.
Local honey with local pollen mixed in: Take that allergies!
Lovely dark rich stuff there Ed!
It’s not so dark, it’s on black foundation.
A feral swarm in mid September in SW Pa?! This isn’t normal for this area… Captured this yesterday at work. Goldenrod/Aster is on in full force right now. Have this swarm in a nuc, but i wonder how far along they may go with the fall flow in a nuc? I think I’ll see what happens but probably will have to combine with another hive. I currently have no weak hives, they are all very strong so thoughts on a game plan? Fall flow and feed or plan on combining with another strong hive?I put a frame of brood from another hive to keep them occupied as well as draw out straight foundationless comb on the other empty frames but also to see if there is a queen and if she is even mated. My thoughts are if she is a virgin queen then the chances of her getting mated this time of year are kinda slim and combining is a no brainer, but if she is an older feral queen then I want to keep her and replace the queen in there now for better locally adapted genetics… Thoughts please?
That is not as likely as a May swarm but it does happen. How can you tell they are feral and not from someone’s hive?
I work in a business park surrounded by the woods about a mile away from any other people. I know of no other beekeepers in this area, (small community) and this swarm landed low on a small tree right in the middle of nothing so I assume it is feral…
Update. The queen is laying everywhere she can as the girls are doing a great job drawing out comb. We’ve been lucky to have great weather so far so there is lots of activity during this fall flow, but I would like to hear other peoples thoughts. @Michael_Bush @Dawn_SD
No one knows when the first hard freeze will come, but cool nights will happen sometime soon. You may have to warm the syrup everyday (and feed thick syrup) to get any weight on. If you have stores you can give them and drawn comb you can give them, of course that’s a big head start.
I agree with Michael, feed them anyway - if they don’t want it, they won’t use it. This is really late in the year for them to be starting, so they need all the help they can get. Sounds like you have a nice colony, and if you “baby” them a bit, it will really help them to survive the winter. You may need to feed them all winter too.
Let the games begin!
Although really just a warm up lap at this point.
It’s NOT spring here. -10 F a couple of weeks ago. In the 20s F at night right now…
Party pooper! lol
You guys have killed off the coastal California nectar flow too!
Even the Feral Bees in LA have reduced production:
https://bip2.beeinformed.org/hive-scales/public/43