Wondering if Beeks in coastal NSW/Sydney area have been able to harvest late Autumn or early winter?
We had a reasonable Autumn flow this year and some gums in flower still now.
I would only take honey after April if the hive becomes honey bound so that there is Winter stores for the bees if the honey production dropped off.
I never take all the frames of capped honey, this past ‘Summer’ from mid November till mid March here there was heaps of flowering in the bush but because of the drought and a total lack of rain there flowers were not producing nectar.
That is the first time for 3 consecutive months my hives didn’t produce an excess of honey but I didn’t have to feed the hives either.
Cheers, Peter
I am getting the best flow all year at present but it will stay in the hives till spring. It only takes a couple of wet weeks for them to use a lot of their honey and I hate feeding from over robbing.
Better to wait in my opinion.
Cheers
Rob.
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I have hives in Sydney and have taken off quite a bit of honey just before all the rain. Still nectar coming in from the scribbly gums and the stringybarks in my area are getting heavy with flower buds so we should be good for July - August. I always leave a couple of frames of honey in the super and make sure there are a few more in the brood box.
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Thanks for the info Gents. I have some hives that are fairly full so I am going to take a few frames from them. The Stringybark down here is also well budded.
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