Not sure that's the correct way to ask that question, but I am making a mad dash to get as much comb drawn as I can and the bulk of our flow is winding down for the spring. Thinking back to last year, we had a lot of rain and Dutch White and Ladino clovers bloomed all summer long. Around the first couple weeks of June the hives that I had then, shut down comb drawing and never moved up into the first super. I had started those hives with double deep brood boxes. The filled the top box with honey and shut down.
Clover is still blooming great, and the privet is winding down. My largest hives have a double deep brood chamber and 3-4 supers depending on which hive it is. I would like to get more medium frames of comb drawn, but they're slowing down on that. There is close to 100 acres of pastureland within 1/2 mile of our farm that is a grass, ladino clover mix. Why did the bees not keep putting up honey last year when that field bloomed all summer? Did they get content with the amount of honey they had, or is that even possible?
Is there any way to force or trick them into continuing to put up honey and draw comb with the clover in bloom?
Clover is still blooming great, and the privet is winding down. My largest hives have a double deep brood chamber and 3-4 supers depending on which hive it is. I would like to get more medium frames of comb drawn, but they're slowing down on that. There is close to 100 acres of pastureland within 1/2 mile of our farm that is a grass, ladino clover mix. Why did the bees not keep putting up honey last year when that field bloomed all summer? Did they get content with the amount of honey they had, or is that even possible?
Is there any way to force or trick them into continuing to put up honey and draw comb with the clover in bloom?