View Full Version : Honey Smell From 5' Out
Hambone
06-03-2009, 07:39 PM
I went and checked one of my strong hives today. When I got 5' away I could smell honey. Smelled really good too! Is this an indication of a strong flow? I did not open it up. Just watched the entrance.
alpha6
06-03-2009, 07:42 PM
Yeah it's a good sign. Next time open it up and see if they need another super....don't make me come down there and harvest it for you. :rolleyes:
Tom G. Laury
06-03-2009, 09:24 PM
Breathe deep. Odors are apparently one of the most enduring and provocative of memories. When they smell like that the bees are crankin, brood, honey and all. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
You need to be careful, poison honey comes boiling out and smell, you need a professional like me to come and harvest and take a share for my troubles, to protect your life.:p:banana::banana::shhhh:
Hambone
06-03-2009, 09:45 PM
Don't bother driving to Ennis. I went and rechecked tonight. It smells like AFB after I got a good wif. :p:p:D
BEES4U
06-03-2009, 09:48 PM
You should be able to hear the hives roaring at night reducing the water content in the honey.
Great experience.
We put all that hard work into the hives and get a few simple pleasures that can be remembered for a lifetime!
Ernie
Hambone
06-03-2009, 09:57 PM
Funny you say that. I could here them roar as I was watching the entrance. Had some rain today too. There were at least 100+ out washer boarding and it was late in the afternoon. I guess the workers were board.
Hambone
06-08-2009, 10:04 AM
Well I opened it up on Saturday. They had one super fully drawn and full of honey. They have not moved up to the 2nd super yet. I pulled a frame of honey and put it in the 2nd super and added a new frame of foundation in its place. I also reduced the bottom entrance and made a top entrance.
RayMarler
06-08-2009, 10:25 AM
Yep, sounds like a strong flow and they are drying out the nectar as fast as they can. I love that smell from a hive!
Rebel Rose
06-08-2009, 11:15 AM
I wish they made an airfreshener that smelled like HONEY! I love it! I also love the smell when you open a new box containing foundation!
Great to hear that you are getting lots of honey!
Brenda
Matt NY
06-08-2009, 03:12 PM
I love that smell!
When the weather conditions are just right a slight breeze can carry it quite a ways.
I too could smell the honey from one of my hives this evening. I was there just before they quit flying for the evening and the hive had quite a roar to it. Can't wait to harvest the honey!
Bluidshay
06-26-2009, 07:25 AM
I just experienced this for the first time last night. Heck, I was ready to dress in a bear suit and rob them, it was simply INTOXICATING!! I wonder if I should check them today though. We've had rain for a week straight so I didn't expect them to be in good honey flow since yesterday was the first day of sun. But since I'm going away for the weekend, maybe they are in need of a super before I do. Hm.
Ardilla
06-26-2009, 08:05 AM
Put another one on. Giving them more space than they need is better than having them backfill the brood nest prematurely I made that mistake last year.
Flyman
06-26-2009, 08:14 AM
Walked past the 20 or so hives that are here at the house last night and it sounded like a little jet engine. Lots of honey drying going on. Mesquite flow is the best I have ever seen.
That's what I want to hear. I better build frames tonight and make a run to Terrell in the morning with some more supers.
Chick
06-26-2009, 01:28 PM
We rely on the tallow tree down here, for the honey flow, and it is over. Normally, you can go to the 4th of July, but the drought has ruined everything.
Rebel Rose
06-26-2009, 02:21 PM
Greenville and Terrell, Texas! I used to live down in Hunt county for several years....I sure miss Texas! I had hives set back in the mesquite in my pasture.
There used to be a sort of yellow flower that my bees liked very well...never did learn what the name of it was. I grew wild in the field next to my pasture and made me sneeze!
Brenda
Sounds like our fall golden rod bloom. They usually make a decent fall flow on that and asters. Hunt County is hot and dry right now after a decent spring. We had a late freeze that limited the early flows, so not quite as good as last year. Averaging 100 degrees this week. Had to water the blackberries last night.
Chick
06-26-2009, 04:12 PM
Blackberries are done here in Orange. They quit about a month ago.
tecumseh
06-26-2009, 05:15 PM
and now you know what heaven smells like.
and here it feels a bit more like I am standing at the gates of hell....
Texas Bee
06-26-2009, 06:09 PM
Where's that address at ? I need ta come up their ta look at it.
You may have another problem in there. It's called overflow....
I can fix it for ya. no charge...
103of today.....
Flyman
06-26-2009, 09:36 PM
Ross, Mesquite in this part of the world is super heavy with blooms. Looked pretty close at them yesterday and they are still putting on new blooms. Never seen anything like it. Bee are getting up early and coming home late. Get it while you can:).
lupester
06-26-2009, 11:23 PM
I got the same thing here. The girls are still coming home at 8:00pm. During the day they are firing out of my largest live about one every 2 seconds. I am amazed how fast they are working. Its amazing what some good rain and cool weather will do for plantlife.
tecumseh
06-28-2009, 06:58 AM
lupester writes:
Its amazing what some good rain and cool weather will do for plantlife.
tecumseh:
oh man you are killin' me with ANY comments that might even suggest rain or cool weather.
today I guess I may try to attempt to bribe a baptist preacher or so to bring me and the girls some relief. I did so with the methodist preachers last week but quite evidently either the bribe was too small or their influence with the big guy is not what they suggested.
it is a cooker here... about 103 for the past 4 or 5 days.
I checked my yard in Terrell yesterday. The stronger hives are packing and capping honey, the weaker ones are building up. Lot''s of blooms and lots of trees just starting to set buds. It looks like this one will last a while. It was tough out there, even in an ultrabreeze suit. I had to stop and sit in the truck and run the AC at one point. It jumped from 95 at 10:30 to 102 at noon.
magnet-man
06-28-2009, 07:49 PM
It was tough out there, even in an ultrabreeze suit. I had to stop and sit in the truck and run the AC at one point. It jumped from 95 at 10:30 to 102 at noon.
Ross, check the fuse in the UltraBreeze suit. You may have blown the ac fuse.
magnet-man
lupester
06-28-2009, 08:46 PM
Today was pretty nasty here today. I saw 98 in the shade at noon. But those girls just keep on working!:D
Hambone
07-01-2009, 11:33 PM
North Texas Mesquite Update:
I walked a field or thicket as I would call it this evening. It has so many mesquites its hard to walk though. It is across the highway from my hives. About 300 acres or more. About 1/4 were starting to bean. The others had so many blooms it was unreal. There were still a lot of blooms yet to open too, and a lot of bees work them. I noticed the bees working the older blooms mostly, the ones that are starting to brown.
bnatural
07-02-2009, 05:39 AM
You guys are killing me. It has rained here pretty much every day for over a month with just a day here and there that has been completely dry. It is raining right now. The bees get out when they can, but what nectar there is must be very diluted. They have put up very little surplus and eaten most of what they have put up. Ah well, such is life. Good swarming weather, I suppose.
Bill
p.s. When it isn't raining, that smell is pure delight.
Start cutting those beans off, maybe it will extend the bloom. Mine are in the middle of about 200 acres of mesquite so thick you can't walk through it, and others in the area. They looked like they were just getting started last weekend. No beans at that time.
lupester
07-02-2009, 08:48 AM
When the beans start to show up is that when the end of the mesquite flow is? Someone asked me for seed from the mesquite....is that what I would pick for them?
Wait until the beans are dried out and brown, then pick them. To get them to germinate, peel the pod down to the little brown seed thats as hard as a rock. Take a file or sharp scribe and scratch it well. Then plant.