[dpula2]

I am not sure if anyone else is experiencing it, but in my case I have hives on 10 frames full and barely any honey. Is this year that bad or is there still time to make up for it?

 

[Plannerwgp]

Are you talking about a 10 frame deep brood box or something else? Do you use 2 brood boxes and are you talking about a honey super above them?

 

[Roland]

The plants where 2 weeks behind. Bees follow the plants. Don't expect the flood gates to open until you see White Sweet Clover, AND you have bees in your hive up to chest high.

Crazy Roland

 

[dpula2]

I mean i have 1 deep box (10 frames) full of brood and bees, yet the super above them has barely any honey

 

[beemandan]

What are the chances that your hive(s) swarmed?
A single swarming event will dramatically reduce your production.
A secondary swarm will eliminate the likelihood of any surplus plus you may need to feed for survival.
A tertiary swarm can be the kiss of death.

 

[billdean]

I am not sure if anyone else is experiencing it, but in my case I have hives on 10 frames full and barely any honey. Is this year that bad or is there still time to make up for it?

The cool wet weather has left the bees sitting in their hive consuming the feed and raising their brood. We have had few days the bees can forage in force and when they have the blooming plants have come and gone because of the weather. Honeysuckle around here last for 2 weeks in the spring and the supers are generally full. Not this year, as it has rained for nearly 2 weeks keeping the bees from bring much if any of it in. Same with the maple, fruit, hawthorn, dandelions. Now the blackberries are blooming and it's raining again today. Hopefully the weather straightens itself out soon!

 

[Plannerwgp]

Not unusual for your area and our weather. Do you have comb or foundation in your super.normally you would use 2 deeps and then supers so I am not certain what you intend to do. The bees will move up if you have a hive that did not swarm and is queen right and when the weather improves.

I mean i have 1 deep box (10 frames) full of brood and bees, yet the super above them has barely any honey

 

[DanielD]

Here in NE Missouri it's been similar. There was a mid May gangbusters for part of a week until it cooled down and rained for several days, keeping the bees in till it was over. I think it was black locust and/or Russian olive. Since then there hasn't been any extra come in and some of the May take was used up. We have had a lot of cool days and May was full of rain. Yellow clover has bloomed several weeks ago and white just started blooming in the last week. It's still cool and slow. Yes, soon after the white clover is bloomed the boom is on normally. It takes some warm weather and today is 68 degrees right now here.

 

[Roland]

Bees make honey, empty boxes do not. It is likely your hived swarmed if you are not filling both boxes with bees by now. We run a single deep brood chamber, with most hives starting to fill two or three frames.

The scale hive went up 13 lbs in 14 days, so if you have bees, there is a little something out there.

Crazy Roland

 

[Plannerwgp]

Roland
I am also running single deeps. Most were started from NUCS this year. I use a queen excluder and I have noticed they are starting to move up into first super. The weather has really slowed things down, .........hoping for some sun.

Bees make honey, empty boxes do not. It is likely your hived swarmed if you are not filling both boxes with bees by now. We run a single deep brood chamber, with most hives starting to fill two or three frames.

The scale hive went up 13 lbs in 14 days, so if you have bees, there is a little something out there.

Crazy Roland

 

[DanielD]

I have had a few hives go to swarm mode and I pulled a small split with the queen, but I have hives that are strong hives with some 4 medium 10 frames of brood. Several pulled 2 mediums of stores in mid May in less than a week and ended up being 7 mediums tall, but since then they have stayed even or lost some. They are strong, but the flow and weather hasn't been good since then for producing nectar and flying time. Cool nights keep them in later and bring them home earlier and we have had an abundance of rainy and cool days. Today again was rain all morning, then cool cloudy afternoon with weak flying. They are ready to go but the weather isn't good for long days of foraging. Even the smaller colonies would be bringing in some extra on a normal year. Hope things change soon and/or the main flow goes way longer than normal.

 

[DanielD]

In the last 4-5 days the flow is gushing in real good. It finally stopped raining so much and got warm into the 80s. Good ground moisture too.