[BPadelski]

I’ve been told by a Master beekeeper the dearth starts July 1st and goes until the golden rod starts coming up. But why do my bees take down a half gallon of sugar water from April-June and then not take any when July hits? I’m so lost on when I should and shouldn’t feed my bees. 5th year beekeeping and I never get spring honey.

 

[I'llbeedan]

They probably stop taking syrup because the hive is full and they get enough for maintenance from clover.
In order to get spring honey you have to set the bees up early in the year. February is the time to get the hives to begin growing. However this can be a roll of the dice and I do not recommend it for someone with only a few hives. Our unpredictable early spring weather can bring disaster to a hive that has too much brood to protect from a cold snap. Reducing the hives to a single box and adding queen excluders at the first bloom forces the bees to store nectar in the super. But you have to be on top of swarm management. I do a lot of splitting and combining to get a fair spring crop and keep hives going. The hives need to be in a location where they have lots of early forage Cherry etc. I them move them to another source Locust is my favorite, but does not produce every year, Autumn Olive, and Russian olive are also a good place. I have millions of acres of reclaimed strip mine to access for both locust and olive crops. Then berry crops and so on. You have to be constantly on the lookout for large areas of nectar sources.

 

[BowersBees]

You shouldnt need to feed at all from March- August. This is the period when the bees will do their thing and make you a crop. Feeding is done only in the spring on very weak colonies or in the fall ( starting end of September ) after you take all the honey and need to replace their stores for winter. Feeding any other time, the bees dont need to make honey as you are providing them food in house, and any honey in your hives is just stored syrup. Depending where you live makes a difference, if there are no spring flower sources you'll never make honey.

I'm in Harrisburg, and i still have clover in the yard. Look around, do you see any clover? If no clover, the dearth started. Make sure bees have something to eat until end of August.