Bees bringing in the nectar in the middle of winter

SlickMick · July 19, 2009, 09:18:30 AM

Something I have not experienced before.

All my hives are going great guns and are pulling in nectar like its the middle of spring... one even swarmed a couple of weeks ago (got it back again :lol:)

The only thing its the middle of winter and we are having our usual cold (for us any way) spell with temps down to 43^oF at night and high 60's in the day. I've never pulled off honey in winter before but it looks like I will be doing so over the next few days. I would expect that our climate is much like California. I live in the inner 10k of a state capital city and there are always lots of gardens around. I guess that I didn't know just how many.

Mick

applebwoi · July 20, 2009, 01:19:39 AM

What a great problem to have.

qa33010 · July 20, 2009, 01:23:55 AM

Color me jealous. That is too cool. I still like my freezing weather and snow and ice though. Helps me reset for the year and it's fun to watch cleansing flights on the warmer days with a cup of joe or cocoa.

Congrats!

Koala John · July 20, 2009, 07:56:29 AM

That's great news Mick, well done. Down here in Melbourne city my girls are working hard too, but the warm days they have to work are less numerous than yours so they are just holding their own. I have a set of scales under one hive and I get to see the fluctuations every day. Let us know how the honey turns out, and how much you get - I hope it's a good crop for you.
Regards,
John.

SlickMick · July 20, 2009, 09:44:46 AM

G'day John, I am going to do some crush and strain over the next couple of days. The honey looks quite pale as it is in new comb. Cant wait to taste it.. yum

Had to put a couple of new frames in the 3 of the supers to cope with demand over the past few days (because of the shb I add frames to the supers as they need the space for nectar).

The queen I got from a small cut out is quite prodigious and I now have her progeny in a nuc (waiting for a virgin queen to show she's been mated) and 1 in a hive that swarmed from her original home. She didn't fly with them and I now have one of her daughters laying and they are going great guns.

Mick

Koala John · July 20, 2009, 10:09:24 AM

Sounds great Mick. I've never done crush and strain, but started thinking about it for the first time last night when I was salivating over an electric radial extractor to replace my 6 month old 4 frame manual one. You have to sell a lot of honey to pay for a decent extractor don't you?

Sounds like that queen is a keeper, I hope her daughters are as good to you as their Mum seems to be. Enjoy the harvest Mick, would love to see some photos if you get any. Can't you just stare at white frames of capped honey all day long?

Beaver Dam · July 20, 2009, 10:49:16 PM

Send us some of that cool. Here in the Ft Worth area of Texas ,temps have been in the 100's. Lady's lave been kinda lazy. Hives have built up well but no extra. Will leave all hive's alone and go into winter with what they have.

DavidJ · July 21, 2009, 12:10:09 AM

Hi Mick,

My bees are doing the same. They same to be up in the gum trees. I have been told that spotted gum and blue gum should be blooming this time of year.

David

SlickMick · July 21, 2009, 01:08:10 AM

Just took a shallow super off the one hive. This one has a commercial queen and is running a brood of only 8 deep frames.

We have quite a few eucalypts around see quite a few callistamens starting so maybe that is what they are getting in'

Glad to hear that your girls are working hard also.

Mick

PS I have noticed a distince reduction in the shb since the cold snap :-D

SlickMick · July 21, 2009, 01:10:32 AM

Hey Beaver, that's a bit of a low blow not getting any extra before you head into winter. That is often the problem with primary production, you can't control the weather

Mick