You did that in shorts and a t-shirt!!
Love to see the photos 
Cheers
Rob.
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Duncan, I feel your pain, and I admire you for sharing the truth of it. When people are honest, as you are, it gives us all a chance to learn and become better beekeepers.
I would add one suggestion to your analysis. If you add a box of foundationless frames, be sure to inspect them at least once a week. That way the bees wonāt have invested too much effort if you need to ācorrectā their opinion on which way to build the comb. If you canāt inspect them weekly, use foundation to restrict their creativity. They can still build brace comb and other undesirable things, but it is much easier to correct.
You can use a simple bee escape on an inner cover for this. The bees usually clear out of the box in 24 hours, providing there is no brood in it.
Thanks again for sharing. I hope you didnāt suffer too much from the stings. 
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Multiple gums are starting to flower in the city now, so hopefully itās the same up in the hills.
Queensland Box has just finishing flowering (I didnāt notice when it started).
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I have a few red gums that started flowering a few weeks back. Plenty of activities for the bees! 
Hopefully the paperbark gumsā flowering will come online when the red gum ceases
Have to remember to jot down the dates of the flowering trees in my area
Cheerio
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Thing is, is that the flowering times are all over it of kilter.
I was speaking to the VP of WAAS at the markets last week whilst buying more honey, grrrrrrr, and he was saying some of the commercial fellas reckon this is the worst year in memory and last year they were saying the same thing. Having said that 2014 was supposedly a bumper year.
It would be interesting to see how different the flowering is next year thoughā¦ I really need to keep records tooā¦
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Iām trying to photograph plants as they flower and am trying to work towards a pollen chart for Perth.
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Hey Dunc thatās a great idea. You automatically get the date time stamp on the photo.
Auto record.
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You are right on there. Not only is it all over the place the blossom is sparse and quickly dies off.
We strangely have had above average rainfall this year. Doing fire breaks in some parts instead of dust I was battling not to get bogged. Would you believe it.
I am a bit lucky in that with planting a diverse mob of trees, there are always some trees flowering albeit lightly.
A couple of big Yellow Box still have some blossom and I see this morning the Angophoras showing some white blossom. The grevilleas are also a great backstop. We have a few quite large Honey Gems, along with many others varieties, which have (and are still) been flowering profusely for at least 3 months.
There is a lot hanging on the Red Gums (Corymbia calophyllaā¦ was E. calophylla but donāt get me started on that) this year for commercial beekeepers just hope there is a good flowering.
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Hi all,
I moved to Perth 7 years ago from the UK and never paid much attention to the timing of tree flowerings until we got bees early this year. Therefore I have a question for the locals as I am very very confused about what I am seeing on our block (Perth Hills)!
Our white gum trees have been in bud for at least 4-6 weeks yet only 2 trees on our 12 acres have sparsely flowered. If I open the buds there are flowers in there, so Iām not sure if Iām being impatient, or if all the unopened buds will simply fall off prior to opening. Today I noticed with cautious optimism that the Marri are starting to bud too, but given my current experience I donāt know if this means they will flower or when. Is it possible that it can take 2 months from bud to flowering, or are my bees doomed to struggle through a tough summer?
Hopefully there are some botanist enthusiasts on here who can give me a lesson in eucalypt biology!
Cheers heaps,
Julia
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I was talking to a beek who keeps his hives down Mt Lawley area and he was saying they were getting more honey from his 7 hives than they could keep up withā¦ Still quiet up here in the hills thoughā¦ Iām not normally jealous of the flat landers butā¦
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Hi
I got my hives in Sept 2016. With great guidance from my mentor and assistance from my bee buddy, I harvested in early Dec and since then, a total of 33kgs so far. The flowering in the flat lands have been quite good I might say!
Sorry to hear about the situation in the hills 
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Iām down near Mt Barker and thought it was going to be good.
Spring was good and thought Iād let them get settled in.
Somehow in the last few weeks much of the honey is gone. The weather went all pear shaped and the hive are near empty. The bees never swarmed and the hive is packed with bees.???
Very hot without a flower in sight.
So sorry to hear that, onrbikes! Hopefully things will turnaround!
I think it is going to be a lean year down Busso way. The redgums are starting to bud but what I have seen is very thin and there a lot of trees without bud. The banksiaās flowers were very very sparse this year.
The grevileas are keeping my hive going at the moment and Iām getting a stiff neck walking around trying to see what is budding or flowering. I am not finding much at all.
After doing an inspection yesterday and seeing how little progress has been made in the colonies out front Iāve bitten the bullet and have begun to feedā¦ Plenty of pollen stores yet no honey stores. Some eucalypts are finally beginning to bud up here hopefully they will blossom as profusely as they are down in the flatlands.
Fingers crossedā¦
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This might sound odd but to me it almost seems like Perth has had a number of micro-climates spring up (more than usual) this year. Although Iāve only had my bees coming up a year Iāve watched the flowering of plants/trees for the last few years. This year Iām noticing the biggest difference between areas for flowering times.
As far as my hive goes, I robbed my 9 flow frames about 6wks ago. Since then Iāve checked the hive about 3 times, the most recent being two days ago. This last time I checked the hive Iāve got 2 flow frames practically full and fully capped, 1 flow frames 2/3 full and 2/3 capped and 6 flow frames between 40% and 80% full uncapped. The biggest change has occured in the last two weeks - and Iām putting it down to the eucalypts that are coming into flower. Weāve all still got the Illyarrieās to come Jan through Febā¦
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For anyone wondering what an Illyarrie is, it is also known as a red capped gum (Eucalyptus erythrocorys): http://anpsa.org.au/e-ery.html
(Up close - red caps and in flowerā¦)
(And in flower after losing the red capsā¦)
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Bees are busy on illawara flame trees in the city. They seem to be getting some pollen from it as well.
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The only thing flowering up our hill is the west Australian Christmas tree.
I was sure the bees were struggling as there was little comb building & syrup in the hive, so gave them some syrup. Interestingly, 2 out of the 3 hive have refused to take it. Clearly, the bees have a source of nectar they prefer! The one that took the syrup have floor to ceiling brood throughout their box & must appreciate it with all their mouths to feed
Cheers,
Julia
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A bit of a cross-post but Iām seeking advice on alternatives to Fipronil for a termite barrier treatment. If anyone has any comments/advice please let me know!
http://forum.honeyflow.com/t/fipronil-and-termites/9594?u=snowflakehoney
Thanks.