Sustaining hives after the privet hedge honey run...

[Intheswamp]

I have seen recently where folks are saying privet hedge (chinese I believe) is a very good nectar source for honeybees.  Well, I have several acres worth within 1/8 of a mile of me and no telling how much beyond that.  It's everywhere and considered a nuisance around here.  Finding out it is excellent forage for the bees is great!  But, it is about the only truly abundant nectar source around...when it's gone it's slim pickens.

I would imagine that having this good nectar source so close by that it could support several hives of bees.  What I'm curious about is about the time *after* the blooms have dropped and the nectar is no longer available.  I guess this would be like any other "crop" that blooms for a short period and is gone...the bees have to find something else, live off of their stores, or be fed by the beek.

So, the honey run is wide open, the colony is growing, then BOOM!!! the privet hedge drops its blooms.

I guess what I'm trying to figure out is if there could be a bounty of food sources during the honey run for "X" number of hives but then when the honey run is over could the bees become suddenly over-populated for the local food sources?   I guess the colony starts reducing it's size then?

Does that make sense?

I know I need to be thinking on other matters right now in order to get my hives up and growing, but I got to thinking about the privet hedge and was happy to find it's attraction to the bees and got to wondering about "after the run".

Ed

[David McLeod]

Look around, I bet you got tulip poplar as well. It blooms before privet and starts the main flow in most parts of the south. Now what they do after the flow is to continue work at whatever is available. Persimmon follows privet and if your lucky to have it sorrel/sourwood (blooming now in my area but I ain't got none to speak of)is next. Those are the flow blooms but pollen is almost always available somewhere from whatever is open. Mine have brought in magnolia and today I watched some working crepe myrtle. Other sources are whatever melon, squash or cucumber may be in the neighborhood gardens, even corn tassels get worked over if need be. The ladies are workaholics and will find something to do during down times. Sadly it may not be nectar but work they will. But watch closely during the lulls as the little devils will sometimes surprise you. Mine have put up a little something this week from Lord knows where. Maybe my beek neighbor up the street is missing some from his boxes. ;)

[sc-bee]

No wild blackberry, holly, wild cherry, china berry, hairy vetch etc. Sometimes the source is right in front of our eyes we just don't see it as a source. I imagine you have more than just privet ;)

[AllenF]

http://honeybeenet.gsfc.nasa.gov/Honeybees/ForageRegion.php?StReg=AL_12   For Southern Alabama.

[Bee Brothers Apiary]

cool link..thanks

[Intheswamp]

Thanks for the replies everybody.  I've got a lot of the other plants growing around me...plenty of the wild blackberry, wild cherry, china berry, holly...but most of those finishes up blooming in the spring don't they?  I was just curious that if the colony grows in size from the bounty of food during the honey flow and then the bumper crop goes away if they might be overpopulated for the remaining forage...but like David mentioned, those ladies are workaholics (or thieves<grin>). 

Currently the crapemyrtle is in full bloom.  I had read where the white tended to draw bees better than the pink/lavenders.  I have all pink/lavender around the house but a friend of mind has a nice roadside flower garden that is on my way to work and it has several nice whites crapemyrtles in it.  I stopped the other day and checked them...plenty of bees of several kinds.  Among the bees there were honeybees working them....something I haven't seen around my house in YEARS.  I even pinpointed which of her trees had the heaviest bee population and I noticed one tree had so low limbs/suckers that were laying towards the ground (probably need pruning soon! :) ).  Smelling of the whites I found that they had a much more fragrant smell than the pinks and lavenders that are around my house.  I'm going to see if I can get some cuttings from her. 

Anyhow, I've been looking everywhere I go to find stuff still blooming.  Not a lot this time of year, but still I happen upon something all along...the crapemyrtle is the predominate flowering plant right now.  sc-bee, you're right...sometimes things are right in front of our eyes...kinda like picking tomato worms, you look and look and look and suddenly there's a giant one right in front of your nose!

Allen, that is an interesting map...I've bookmarked the site.  There are lots of plants on it that are around here so I should be in pretty good shape.  The sad thing is that row-crop farming around here has probably sunk to 10-20 percent of where it once was...looks like corn is a predominate crop right now (ethanol, I presume ;( )  We've got a lot of open hayfield that is predominately bahia grass and weed (thistle, milkweeds, you name it), I know that will be pretty good in the spring.  What about pine trees (there's a lot)...are they good/bad/neutral in helping honey production or taste?

Thanks for the help,
Ed

[AllenF]

Just remember to look at all the plants in an 80,000 acre circle around you.   And bees will tap 2 million flowers just to make 1 single pound of honey. 

[Intheswamp]

Just remember to look at all the plants in an 80,000 acre circle around you.   And bees will tap 2 million flowers just to make 1 single pound of honey. 

I just drew five circles around my house on some mapping software. The first circle has a radius of one mile from the house, each succeeding circle has a radius of one more mile than the next smaller one.  I ran them out to five miles.  The circle with the radius of five miles has 50,000 acres in it.  That's a lot of territory!!!!

It's interesting to see what actually falls within the different ranges.  I've got substantial water/bottomland  within a mile.  At the two mile mark there's a great deal of creeks and river bottoms.  In the three mile radius there is row crop farmland.  There should be a vast assortment of food sources available for the girls.  Putting it down on a map certainly gives me a better view of things.  Ed