[beemandan]

I'm seeing a bit of dark honey getting stored. I think it may be sumac. As I recall, the sumac pollen is light yellow. Also some sourwood blooming locally but at our elevation I rarely see any significant surplus. I spent the past couple of days extracting in the honey house. Windows open and the only bees at the screens are those who want out. We're surely near the end but something is still coming in.

 

[squarepeg]

interesting dan. i have a lot of sumac on my property, it's actually pretty invasive and i have to kill of some of it. there are two or three varieties and their bloom is staggered. i've not seen any pollen gathered from it but it appears to offer up some of the dark nectar like what you are seeing.

we have a few sourwood trees scattered around the woods here and they have not bloomed yet.

i also harvested my first batch last weekend, and like with you, there was absolutely no interest in the open and spilled honey out in the bee yard. so yes, still enough of a flow here to where robbing isn't worth it, yet.

i'm guessing (hoping) the bees here will use this secondary flow to cap off the rest of the frames in the honey supers. i've got a bunch this year.

 

[beemandan]

i've got a bunch this year.

Barring any last minute disasters, it is shaping up like a bumper crop here too.
Much of the sumac here is clearly foraged for pollen. I do see one variety that appears to be nectar producing which I have come to associate with a very dark honey. I need as much dark honey as I can get....the tulip poplar blooms were largely non existent this spring...evidently damaged from a late season freeze. Even without the poplars....it has been an exceptional flow. Most of what I'm extracting is very light.

 

[squarepeg]

awesome. the pollen coming in at this time is a bright whiteish yellow, it reminds me of lemon maringue. i'll take another look at what the bees are doing on the sumac here.

i've noticed that the first batches here are lighter, and they seem to get progressively darker as the season roles on. i like the darker stuff better myself.