[sarah]

i put shallow supers of permacomb on my hives in the end of june and since then nothing has happened that i can see. no wax being drawn, nothing! any other beekeepers in the area with a similar situation? i'm wondering if with high humidity they might be spending their time fanning to dehydrate what they already have, rather than working on new...

 

[Brent Bean]

I don’t think that humidity is your problem, more than likely there has been no nectar flow in your area. Without nectar they will not draw out wax, it has been very dry and hot in Michigan. I pulled honey on July 6 th and the moisture was only 17.1 %. With the rain wildflower and Goldenrod will start soon so they should take off. Also soy beans are starting to bloom and they will go after that also. During nectar shortages if you want them to draw out comb give them 1:1 sugar syrup, to stimulate there wax glands.

 

[MistyZ]

I feel the same (Ypsilanti, Michigan). This is my first year with 2 hives. One keeps having queen problems, but the other has been growing -- just slowly. I started with a 10 frame deep, drawn out and given to me by a beekeeper. I put the 2nd box on in mid-May, and since then, they have only drawn out 7 or 8 frames there, but nothing in the super I put on in early June.

I'm wondering if they'll ever get up into the super. I was hoping to have a little bit of honey this year.

Oh, and I tried feeding sugar syrup mid-May through first of June, but they didn't touch it and it went bad. Maybe I should have tried again a few weeks later.

I'm still not so knowledgable about the whole nectar flow thing. Flowers seem to be blooming, and the white clover 'weeds' in my yard have been exploding the last 3 weeks or so. I just assumed that was enough.

Misty

 

[Brent Bean]

Misty:
Have you noticed the bees forging in the clover in your yard? Honeybees will forage several miles and seem to be attracted to certain types of flowers over others. I have five hives that have a lot of wild raspberries right behind them, but they won’t be touching them. Even tho they are very busy bringing in nectar and pollen from somewhere. Do you have a good water supply within a half mile of your bees? With it being hotter than normal they use a lot of water and if they have to spend a lot of resources hauling water that takes away resources for nectar collection.

 

[Hook]

Oops!

 

[Hook]

One question? Are you experiencing the same hot humid weather without alot of rain as I am in PA? My bees slowed to almost a halt too. It is because, they are bringing enough pollen and nector in to feed themselves, and the brood, but thats about all. When it is dry, plants do not produce alot of nector, hence not alot of excess honey. It happens, but the goldenrod flow is coming in late august, (in PA), and there will be some flow then. We can only hope to get some rain.,

Another thing you should understand is, the race of your bees can make a difference too. Carniolian bees will actually shut down with low nector flows. That is why they are so frugal with stores. If you are new to bees, you should read Brother Adams "Breeding the Honeybee". It is out of print, but I'll give you the link. You can then understand how races of bees affect you! Even if you are not interested in raising queens, and the genetics of it, it is a great wealth of info.

http://www.fundp.ac.be/~jvandyck/homage/books/FrAdam/breeding/somm85en.html

 

[clintonbemrose]

So far this year has been very poor for drawing comb and the honey crop around here has only been about 1/3 of what it normally is.
On my first extracting in the middle of July we only averaged 20 pounds of honey per hive. Normal is between 60 to 80 pounds for strong hives. I started the spring with 10 hives and am now down to 8 due to Yellow Jackete taking over 1 strong hive and one hive now has many laying workers and dwindling fast. To help the hives I have placed 5 gallon buckets of water with floats next to the hives and you can see a steady streem of bees going for the water.
Clint

 

[Brent Bean]

Hook: Great link it will make some interesting reading.
Clintonbemrose: It looks like things should start picking up in Michigan, we have had over five inches of rain in the last thirteen days. Things are starting to green up and the Goldenrod is about to bloom.

 

[MistyZ]

Brent,

--Have you noticed the bees forging in the clover in your yard?--

Yes! I can sit on my deck and see bees bustling all around the clover at my feet. I made my husband wait to cut it for a couple of weeks since they seemed to like it so much.

-- Do you have a good water supply within a half mile of your bees?--

I put a tub of water out with some screen mesh so they won't drown, but they never seem to use it. We do have a little stream nearby and a couple 'marshy', technically wetland, lots a few doors down. So, I'm assuming they are drinking there.

Misty

 

[Mitch]

I think it is lack of flow.I am just south of the
Michigan line.I wish i had clover in the yard.The dry weather burned it up early.But the rain in the last 10 days is helping a bit.I got the bees to draw wax foundation ealy on but they have slowed down in the last few weeks.I have 15 med supers on yet that are 50 to 75% drawn, they are working on them but ever so slow.I am hopeing the cooler less humid conditions help out.I still have some thistles and sooy beans blooming.The clover in the yard is comeing back.All arond it have been a strange year due to the weather.

 

[clintonbemrose]

The bees are just starting on goldenrod and they are going crazy with it.
Clint

 

[Brent Bean]

You can always tell when they are packing away Goldenrod, the hives have a sour mash smell. The first year I kept bees I walked up to my hives and thought, O My God! my hives have some kind of disease, like foul brood. Now when I smell that smell I walk away content knowing that they are packing it away.

 

[Mitch]

I do not see any stinkyrod here yet but it is close.Got 15 med supers to finsh this is going to be a good year for me.Only one bad thing tho. i live in farm country and the farmers are mowing all the ditch banks now.