Ok so clover is starting to pop up around my hive a long with a bunch of other stuff. So when is one in a flow and when should one put on honey supers?
I lift the back of each hive each time I go in the bee yard. When I notice a weight increase, there is a flow on.
If I go into a hive and there is open nectar away from the brood, there is a flow on.
Well then I might just have to peak in the hive tomorrow. I feel like they would be putting weight as I have been feeding.
Quote from: bwallace23350 on February 27, 2017, 04:42:19 PM
Well then I might just have to peak in the hive tomorrow. I feel like they would be putting weight as I have been feeding.
So you need to isolate your sugar from a flow if you plan to extract.... RIGHT :wink:
Yep. I wont put a super on until the sugar is gone.
But I sell none of my producw and most goes free to some elderly people from church that I know or just from around town and to friends and family so they will just be happy with anything but I always strive for the highest quality on everything I grow or produce.
Quote from: bwallace23350 on February 27, 2017, 09:15:18 PM
Yep. I wont put a super on until the sugar is gone.
Well that is nearly impossible to do. Once you start feeding you have to wait until there is a strong flow before putting on supers and then yank them off before the flow stops. You can't leave them on or you run the risk of sugar in the honey super. The bees will use honey before the sugar. So if there is a dearth coming on they are going to move the sugar and put honey around the brood. Honey has everything they need. Sugar only has one thing they need.
It is not like the people you are giving the honey to will complain. The whole country is hooked on sugar. So if you give them sugar with a honey flavor the odds are they will like it.
Understand that you are not in charge of what goes in a honey super. The bees are.
Quote from: Acebird on February 28, 2017, 09:43:28 AM
Quote from: bwallace23350 on February 27, 2017, 09:15:18 PM
Yep. I wont put a super on until the sugar is gone.
Well that is nearly impossible to do. Once you start feeding you have to wait until there is a strong flow before putting on supers and then yank them off before the flow stops. You can't leave them on or you run the risk of sugar in the honey super. The bees will use honey before the sugar. So if there is a dearth coming on they are going to move the sugar and put honey around the brood. Honey has everything they need. Sugar only has one thing they need.
It is not like the people you are giving the honey to will complain. The whole country is hooked on sugar. So if you give them sugar with a honey flavor the odds are they will like it.
Understand that you are not in charge of what goes in a honey super. The bees are.
Thanks for this. From what I have read our flow usually goes until May but we are about a month ahead this year so maybe the end of April will be the end of the flow this year. I feel it is nearly upon us. I will make sure to harvest before the flow ends.
Hey, Ace, can you provide a link to that info? I ain't believing it until I see proof. It sounds just a bit far fetched to me.
I have to say regardless that I have not been this excited about anything in a long long time. But is it a good idea to try to capture two different flows? The clover is going to pop up first and stay for a month. About half way through he clover all my fruit trees and the poplars usually bloom across the rode. That should give me two different flavoured honeys right?
Quote from: iddee on February 28, 2017, 10:19:41 AM
Hey, Ace, can you provide a link to that info? I ain't believing it until I see proof. It sounds just a bit far fetched to me.
I am not sure what you are asking proof for or what you would accept for proof.
Quote from: bwallace23350 on February 28, 2017, 12:01:59 PM
I have to say regardless that I have not been this excited about anything in a long long time. But is it a good idea to try to capture two different flows? The clover is going to pop up first and stay for a month. About half way through he clover all my fruit trees and the poplars usually bloom across the rode. That should give me two different flavoured honeys right?
If you pull them between flows you can have 2 totally different tastes as well as color. One can be light and the next one, dark strong floral taste.
Jim
That they will move sugar water honey away from the brood and move honey in to replace it. Any science institute or known bee author.
Why else would they move it? I don't have proof. I don't have proof that they prefer honey over sugar. I just know bees are smart and will chose the better food for their existence.
Brian,
My first 5 years with the Observation hive, I didn't feed them and they were constantly moving honey around. It is what they do.
Jim
They move honey up for storage and near the brood for feeding the young. Once they add their enzymes and other substances to the sugar water, I don't think they know the difference in sugar honey and nectar honey. As you, I have no proof, just my thoughts.
Quote from: sawdstmakr on February 28, 2017, 01:03:22 PM
Quote from: bwallace23350 on February 28, 2017, 12:01:59 PM
I have to say regardless that I have not been this excited about anything in a long long time. But is it a good idea to try to capture two different flows? The clover is going to pop up first and stay for a month. About half way through he clover all my fruit trees and the poplars usually bloom across the rode. That should give me two different flavoured honeys right?
If you pull them between flows you can have 2 totally different tastes as well as color. One can be light and the next one, dark strong floral taste.
Jim
That is what I plan on doing? I just got to figure out now how to exactly extract the honey.
I believe if it is stored they do know the difference because it will be mostly sugar and water. If you are feeding at the rate they are using it, it gets mixed with pollen to make bee bread and then there may be little difference. If they move stored sugar water it will get mixed with actual honey. It will not be kept pure sugar water if it gets moved. I don't think they can tell the difference if it is mixed. Neither can the average person. So proof of anything is difficult.
I do not feed my bees sugar water ever. But I can't prove that there isn't some in my hives that came from another source.
I think it is a given that bees move honey around the hive. So to me it is a given that they move sugar water around when it is stored.
Quote from: bwallace23350 on February 28, 2017, 02:25:33 PM
Quote from: sawdstmakr on February 28, 2017, 01:03:22 PM
Quote from: bwallace23350 on February 28, 2017, 12:01:59 PM
I have to say regardless that I have not been this excited about anything in a long long time. But is it a good idea to try to capture two different flows? The clover is going to pop up first and stay for a month. About half way through he clover all my fruit trees and the poplars usually bloom across the rode. That should give me two different flavoured honeys right?
If you pull them between flows you can have 2 totally different tastes as well as color. One can be light and the next one, dark strong floral taste.
Jim
Just use the cut and strain method and also cut out the best sections for comb honey.
That is what I plan on doing? I just got to figure out now how to exactly extract the honey.
bw, soon after that if you have privy hedge it should be blooming.
Joe D
just my over rated 2 cents worth.., I don't think bees care. If they didn't plan on eating or feeding with it they wouldn't have taken it into the hive.
If they are building new comb and it is very white, it is a sign of a new flow.
Quote from: GSF on March 01, 2017, 08:19:38 AM
just my over rated 2 cents worth.., I don't think bees care. If they didn't plan on eating or feeding with it they wouldn't have taken it into the hive.
What are things looking like around your house? I am in south Pike County at the moment and clover is popping all around the roads.
Pear, henbit, some red & yellow clover, and other stuff I can't identify - yet
I have yet to see a bee on henbit