[JackB]

I hear other bee keepers say that the honey flow is over or almost over around June. Here in southern Ontario we are just planting our flower and vegatable gardens and field crops are just getting under way. Wouldn't those things keep the bee's making lots of honey? It seems many of the others are in simalar climates. Thanks

 

[Chemguy]

I think that most common garden plants and flowers aren't used as a source of pollen or nectar by european honeybees. The same is true of most crops. So, the end of the flow could be seen as the end of the spring wildflower and tree bloom.

 

[TalonRedding]

Hehe....I have noticed that when bees are calm, gentle, and relatively glad to see you to the point where they'd give you a hug if they could, that means a flow is occurring. On the other hand, when you open them up and they hit your veil the second the inner cover is lifted, and they try to get rid of your presence with every bit of malice they can muster, then.......my friend.....you can bet that the honey flow has ended.
Also in my region, I've noticed that the area of honey stores remains fairly constant and not growing. New wax has stopped being built for the most part and the brood nest will either be constant or smaller in size depending on the strain of bees. Backfilling seems to cease as well.

 

[psfred]

The largest sources of nectar around here are clover, black locust, tulip poplar, persimmon, and catalpa. Basswood is sometimes, but it's rare around here. There are any number of other minor sources of pollen and nectar, but the big flow is from trees and clover.

Up in the Great White North your main sources are going to be different, as most of what grows here does not grow there. Likely you have clovers of various types, maybe basswood (linden), raspberries (I used to pick gallons of them along the roads in Sault Ste. Marie when I lived there), and some field crops, especially alfalfa grown for seed and rapeseed. Ornamentals can be a nectar source, but it depends on what is grown and how much nectar is made, and they are far fewer in number than things like trees or wild raspberries.

You can tell when the major flow is over with healthy hives -- they go from bees blasting out in a constant stream with clouds of them returning to just a few in each direction. The hives get crankier too!

Peter

 

[JustinH]

I'm a newbee but I think here in middle Tennessee, the white clover blooms all summer long. I may be wrong. But if it does, does that mean that the flow will last at least as long as the clover is around?

 

[JackB]

Maybe a dumb question; but if I started feeding them would it result in a happier( nicer) bees?

 

[johng]

Feeding may help some but, its just not the same as a good natural honey flow.

Our spring flow is winding down. We will probably start pulling honey next week. The Orange flow was just ok but, the Gallberry, Palmetto, and Tallow have been very good. Made two boxes per hive on the Orange, and most hives have 3-4boxes on now that's ready. The next flow won't be until mid July from the Cabbage Palm.

 

[UTvolshype]

I'm a newbee but I think here in middle Tennessee, the white clover blooms all summer long. I may be wrong. But if it does, does that mean that the flow will last at least as long as the clover is around?

Clover may bloom into August but it's almost impossible to get a surplus during the hot summer months. As soon as the sumac is finished in the lower elevations of East Tennessee the main honey flow is over in the valley. I harvest my honey over the Fourth of July most years. Last year it was so wet they didn't cap the frames till the middle of the month. For sourwood production I would move hives before June 15 and get them above 2000 ft in elevation with higher ridges/mountains very nearby. By moving you could get a chance for an extra crop and a extra month of nectar flow.