The flow is on.....Finally!!

[Dazzabee]

Finally after all the rain the sun has returned to Southern Essex for the last few weeks (well most days at least!!) and the flow is now on at last.
My 4 main/biggest colonies are now filling approx a super a week. Not sure exactly what flora it is that's supplying the flow but its appreciated none the less....

As it stands today I have 7 full supers to be extracted in the next week or 2 if i leave each of the larger colonies with 1 full super of honey to keep as reward for all the hard work and towards their winter provisions. I know I could take it all and feed for winter but I'll have had around 200lb of honey this year after these 7 supers are added to the tally which is more than enough for my needs.

How are others fairing? Have other areas seen the same vast improvement in the last 2-3 weeks?

 

[Hebeegeebee]

"Have other areas seen the same vast improvement in the last 2-3 weeks?"

Yes

 

[Teemore]

I have seen an improvement within the same time frame but not quite to the same extent.

 

[EdNewman]

My reasonable hive has 3/4 filled a super in under a week.

I was going to combine a hive with a non laying queen (since the end of May (a number of test frames failed to get a queen cell)) to it yesterday and started to go through it out last time to try and find the queen and what do you, 6 out of 11 frames with lovely eggs placed beautifully in the bottom of the cell. Fingers crossed that they won't all turn out to be drones.

 

[Poly Hive]

No flow here and now raining again.

PH

 

[Silly Bee]

Just looked through mine, one hive has had a super on for a few weeks, and up until last Monday the bees had ignored it, today it's almost full of capped honey.

 

[tonel]

This might be a daft question but if a beekeeper wants to return honey from a super back to the hive for winter stores how is it done? Would the super be left on during Autumn so the bees can remove the honey from the super frames and move it to the brood box? Am guessing supers aren't left on over the winter unless the hive is on brood and a half? Am trying to learn more about beekeeping so sorry for all the questions!

 

[Bates]

Flow has halted our way, last week filled 4 supers per box at one site other sites 3. All robbing now on todays inspection!

 

[herefordshirehoney]

I've also got another dumb question - lot of people refer to people as the flow is on, to a new beekeeper what are the signs? I'm taking it a lot of traffic compared to normal.....

 

[Dazzabee]

"Have other areas seen the same vast improvement in the last 2-3 weeks?"

Yes

Haha...guess i asked for that one!

 

[Dazzabee]

This might be a daft question but if a beekeeper wants to return honey from a super back to the hive for winter stores how is it done? Would the super be left on during Autumn so the bees can remove the honey from the super frames and move it to the brood box? Am guessing supers aren't left on over the winter unless the hive is on brood and a half? Am trying to learn more about beekeeping so sorry for all the questions!

It is OK to leave a super on over winter but you must remember to remove the Q/Excluder. Some put the super under the Brood box to prevent the queen from laying in the super frames before the first spring inspection......but as with most beekeeping though it doesn't always work 100%!

If towards the end of the season there are plenty of stores in the BB and the super isn't needed then you can donate to another hive which is in need of extra provisions or store it over winter for use in the spring.

 

[Dazzabee]

I've also got another dumb question - lot of people refer to people as the flow is on, to a new beekeeper what are the signs? I'm taking it a lot of traffic compared to normal.....

I was referring to the nectar flow so for me its how quick the supers are filling up!
A significant increase in the speed the super is being filled (when the colony situation has remained the same of course) is a good indication that a nectar flow is on in your neck of the woods.

For instance my colonies were just ticking over during June with store levels pretty much remaining the same. Then the last few weeks it changed dramatically to filling virtually a super a week.

 

[Dazzabee]

My reasonable hive has 3/4 filled a super in under a week.

I was going to combine a hive with a non laying queen (since the end of May (a number of test frames failed to get a queen cell)) to it yesterday and started to go through it out last time to try and find the queen and what do you, 6 out of 11 frames with lovely eggs placed beautifully in the bottom of the cell. Fingers crossed that they won't all turn out to be drones.

Good luck, lets hope they are workers.

 

[Dazzabee]

Flow has halted our way, last week filled 4 supers per box at one site other sites 3. All robbing now on todays inspection!

WOW....... 3 & 4 supers per hive in a week!
Are they working something particular?

 

[Swarm]

Signs a flow is on ... flight path is constant to and fro with bees flying directly and with purpose.

Last week was the start around these parts, supers being filled after weeks of simply ticking over. Suddenly, there is hope that this year may finally turn around but temperatures have dipped and we are now heading into August.

Last years average was 70lbs per hive. I can't see them matching that.

 

[MJBee]

Tonel,
At the end of the season if you have a half filled super of unripe honey you can get the bees to take it down into the brood box as follows:-

Open 1 small hole in the crown board place an empty super (no frames) on the crown board then the super to be emptied. The bees look on the super as being "outside" the hive and will move any stores below the crown board which is "inside" as far as they are concerned Also if you do not want to store your supers "wet" you can use this method to get them cleared of any honey left after extraction.

 

[chrischris]

The flow is on in my neck of the woods lots of balsam coming in one hive has filled a super in a week others are all filling up.

 

[victor meldrew]

Flow started here last week , mainly balsam but rose bay willow herb is in flower as is golden rod, RB a month late !
Temperature has taken a dip , I when round the back of the hives this evening , only one had the air conditioning switched on
VM

 

[Luka22]

I have one hive over here in Essex and the other 7 are in Kent and since I could not check the Kent bees for the last 2 weeks I can only judge about the 1 Hive here and have to say that its rather slow with the Honey production.

The colony was a swarm, very small, but slowly growing, covering about 5-6 frames in the Brood Box. A week ago, about 5 bees decided to enter the Super and start drawing. Not a lot 5 can achieve, so next day they got a few more friends up helping. Day by day, they got more bees up there. We now have about 4 frames drawn with a little bit of honey. They are busy flying in and out, so I would think they try their best and I hope more bees will soon be born and helping the others to fill the super, so they got food for the winter.

I hope I will be able to check the other hives on the weekend and maybe we are a bit more lucky there with getting our very first honey. Hearing how quick it can go, I even have a little bit of hope now.

 

[ratcatcher]

as a total newbie, QUICK QUESTION, when would you add a super, once all the brood frames are full, or when only one more to go?