Last year I had two hives, the queen went up into the super and laid brood, it was a pain trying to get honey out. I got about 200 pounds with 3 hives... This year, I lost one hive early March, the other two are booming, but don't seem so active. We had a long chilly and wet spring and I wondered if it affected the nectar flow. I know my plum bloomed and then we had a frost that killed all the blooms...
So this year I put a queen excluder on both hives. Checked two weeks ago, and each hive has filled one super, they both had the super on from last year and had about emptied it, come late March-early April. The supers are not capped either..Could this be because of the excluder's, or the wimpy nectar flow? I noticed when I checked the hives, there aren't a lot of bees in the supers...Oh, I added a second on both, with drawn comb, and they are completely empty, nothing.
BW,
I'm not a big fan of QE but I do not think that is your problem. If your main flow is gallberry, then that may have been the problem.
I was talking to a commercial beek and he said that Thomas Bees said that the gallbery is so bad that they are not sure how they will survive not beeing abla to get honey this summer.
Jim
I don't think we have galberry around here...not sure. I thought it was more south, or coastal...I have been seeing bees on blackberry and white clover, which I usually never see them on blackberry and not on clover much until it's the only thing left...
We had a lot of rain and cold. The nectar flow is slow right now but hoping it will pick up as the local veggies start. -Mike
Mike you had a slow spring? I'm only in my third spring but it was my best so far. The only 2 production hives I have filled 5+ boxes between em. It is slowing down now. Not Poplar either, very light and extremely tasty. I dont know what it was, but It is awesome. Maybe Black Locust. They are pounding chesnuts and clover now, and the sumac is about to pop. G