Fall harvest time in Wisconcin?

[pp270]

So for the folks here in Wisconsin what time do you typically harvest in the fall?

[Karen1611]

Oshkosh here I'm a first year beek but I am seeing goldenrod and thistles starting to bloom. It's early for these plants here but according to what others are saying I think this is the beginning.
How are your hives doing? We had more rain than Omro so my bees weren't stressed much this year.

[pp270]

The hive is doing well. I have three mediums capped and the fourth is full, but not capped. I think I am going to harvest next weekend. When are you planning are harvesting?

Oh since you are from the area. Do you know of any bee clubs in the Oshkosh/Fox Valley area?

[juzzerbee]

I too am a first year newbee. I have an experienced guy around here helping me on occasion. I asked him to give me a call when he thinks the fall flow starts, because I have 3-4 supers that are on that still need to be capped and I have heard that I shouldn't combine different kinds of honey. The operation that he and his friend run is huge, and they will not close up their hives(final extracting) until the end of August. He and I have extracted some supers throughout the summer.

Hey Cheeseheads keep this thread going because it is exactly the same thing I was going to post to help me make sure my fall harvest was done at the right time. Thanks, juzzerbee

[Karen1611]

Oh since you are from the area. Do you know of any bee clubs in the Oshkosh/Fox Valley area?

I haven't hear of any bee clubs around here. The closest I know of is Green Bay and I thought I heard of one in Red Granite. I'm glad you have some one with experience to help. I'm on my own but get tons of help reading everything I can from here, and books and video's.

I have pulled a couple of frames and extracted them but I think I am going to save most of my honey for the bees. In January or February they might need it so I'll give it back to them then.

[juzzerbee]

Down here we have the dodge/jefferson county beekeeper's club. I too have yet to join, I have been too busy, but I will join in fall. It is a great club, i went to 1 meeting in spring and everyone was VERY helpful and answered many of my questions. THey meet once a month and do some informative and fun things. They even have a honey queen that gets crowned! In addition, we have Lapp's bee supply company nearby that is very supportive and works with the club as well. Let me know if you would like to join the club, although it is quite a distance from you it might be worth it, i think the dues are $10 a year.

I have joined the Wisconsin club on this site but I rarely see any other Wisconsin people logged on. I wish we could get a Wisconsin beekeeper's thread on the site or a forum/chat set up. That would help my confidence in beekeeping! On WISCONSIN!!!!! juzzerbee

[Apple Farmer]

Juzzerbee, the best confidence builder is experiance. Reading can be helpful but it seems that people can read something and then when they see it in the hiv they're still not sure until they confirm it with more reading, or another beek. Relax enjoy your experiance with the bees and know that you will never know everthing that they can thow at you and sooner or later you are going to loose a hive. Take it as a learning experiance and carry on. I now a person that has been a beek for 21 years and says that he is a first year beek 21 times over! I think that sums up what makes keeping bees so interesting pretty good.