Time to bump the thread again.
Bump.
A quick peek at the colony’s today showed the bees know somethings up. The supers are finally being populated. I’ve left the supers on since spring and there’s been little to no action upstairs since which made me keep a close eye on them. Thinking that although the brood box(s) had a healthy population at the time, I’d put them on too early. Like a few months too early. And I probably did. But, now I’m observing a change. Finally.
So, last years best producer, the shady hive, has used up all the honey frames in the hybrid super. This is the same colony that nearly perished due to starvation a few years back. Pre WSP. The old pot colony, also with a hybrid, has a full super, ripe for harvesting. Go figure. The others, just ticking over.
To see such marked differences between colony’s within a stones throw from each other is curious.
Anyway this is just an observation I thought I’d share.
Early Feb Marri flow?
Thanks @skeggley. I’ve been curious about an update on your ‘next’ inspection. Fingers crossed for a Feb marri flow…
I’m down in Bridgetown in SW West Australia. Last year harvested over 100Kgs from two hives. This year nothing so far. A few eucalypts have flowered. Small and dry/minimal nectar. Hives healthy but minimal honey stores. Waiting/waiting!
Interesting. Keep us updated!
And the same here in the hills. I’m not even getting bearding on the hives. I was going to drain some frames a few weeks back however have refrained.
Sporadic Marri flowering but nothing of substance. Even the birds have disappeared. 
Hopefully we get some rain on the weekend. 
Not much better in my suburban area. Hives have plenty of stores but not gaining anything.
I was planning to move them to the hills this week. This plan didn’t go well either 
Hi guys, is anyone seeing any positive action with their hives yet. What a disastrous year so far.
So far, in terms of honey, it is quite disappointing season. My ~4 kg of bees colonies barely hold their ground. They are not dipping into what they collected in Spring, but not gaining either. I am thinking about making increase this season to get at least something out of it.
Feeding in February, who would have thought.
My hives are just starting to show signs of a Marri flow with small increases each day ~200g/day. Not expecting great things from it but at least I’m not feeding any more.
Ditto. This is the first week in a long time I’ve seen an increase in weight. I’m up about 1.36kg this week, so also about 200g per day.
At least one harvest this season would be nice…
There’s certainly a flow on atm. My hive is up 3.8kg this week…
Hi everyone, very excited about our first honey. The frames vary in the % of capped honey but the two outer frames are about 25% capped honey and the the other frames are over 80%. We ended up draining only one frame which was 90% capped because I don’t want to leave the bees with low supplies over winter. We are located in Claremont/Karrakata and the main flowers for the bees has been the golden canes, but the gums are starting to flower but know where near what they usually do at this time of the year.
And they brought in 1kg of nectar today…
Very good news! One kg a day more and we can proclaim it a “major flow” 
Mine too. One hive has averaged 1.3kg a day for 10 days or so. The other 0.5kg a day, so looking good. It will be interesting to see if it lasts.
At the local training apiary we installed and flow super and a hybrid super.
Adam
Out of curiosity @AdamMaskew and @SnowflakeHoney, what are your hive weights doing during this rain?
@skeggley I’ve not had any meaningful rain as yet so my graphs are still representative of nectar collection/honey production. I had some rain over night and less than a 1mm in the last half hour (see below). I can get a water weight increase after rain sitting on my sloped roof. I can also see where the foraging and/or nectar has been washed out following some rainfall events.
I don’t sample the weight frequently enough to get a clear picture but I typically notice a circa 1kg fluctuation (I got sick of flat batteries). Most of this appears to be the foragers not flying and impacting relative comparisons with days either side. It would seem that overall in the last 3 days the rainy weather has had very minimal impact on the nectar stores. My scales are telling me I’m 9g down today, which is bugger all, but still 3.5kg up for the week.
I haven’t had a chance to observe the hive but in the past when I’ve watched during similar weather and flow conditions the foragers are off the first moment they sense a window. When I compare this observation to periods of low flow or a dearth combined with shyte weather the foragers don’t seem to be so quick to set off.
…But perhaps I’m delusional and imagine the difference. I don’t count the bees…