the ivy then ...

[citrus]

so the ivy is the last hurrah for the bees to prepare for winter as I understand it ...but do people just use this is "free feed" for the bees ...

or will they use it to cap any half capped supers .. that could be extracted afterwards ?

I dont mind the taste of ivy honey tbh ... but will it taint the half capped summer honey ?

...yours learning everyday ...

Chris

 

[Ian123]

Yes ivy is a great top up especially for my nucs. Ivy has a strong taste but it does mellow fairly quickly, the main reason for keeping it separate from any summer honey is it’s habit of rapidly setting rock hard

 

[Insy]

Ivy tends to granulate and goes rock solid from my experience and in winter they may struggle to eat and starve I tend to feed around time ivy is flowering to deter them from filling their brood frames with it. But that’s me.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I rely heavily on Ivy stocks for my bees
Never had a problem with them using it.

 

[Swarm]

I rely heavily on Ivy stocks for my bees
Never had a problem with them using it.

The bees love it.

 

[Beefriendly]

I rely heavily on Ivy stocks for my bees
Never had a problem with them using it.

Never had a problem here...... lots of ivy.....but it comes into flower late Nov/Dec. They get pollen from it no nectar that I can tell.
Perhaps this accelerated summer may change things. But nothing obvious so far.

 

[Ian123]

We get a decent flow from ivy most years and plenty of solid frames...i normaly have feed on whilst its flowering so guess it gets mixed to a degree. i find bees have no issues using it or at least none that spring to my attention. also dont forget we often feed fondant so basicaly the same stuff and ive had mini nucs winter on virtually nothing else but fondant

 

[Beefriendly]

We get a decent flow from ivy most years

Ian, what time of the year does your ivy flower?

 

[Ian123]

hi bf luckily it normaly kicks in after the best of any heathland heather is over so normaly about mid sept onwards...i saw your post so checked the tree outside the garage door, buds are the size of a good pepper corn with the individual flower dimples on main bud visable....i will keep an eye and mention it if your interested when i see the first showing. i have never bothered trying to get a crop of it but it just saves on feed and as i generaly feed with thymolated syrup ive never been inclined to stick my finger in...well not often anyway

 

[Beefriendly]

Interesting, thanks Ian 123..Ivy is much later here...But I haven't checked ours recently...will report back.
I'm quite interested in how geographic location affects different major nectar flows. Most writers seem to naively assume that whatever happens in their particular location also applies to the rest of the country.

 

[Ian123]

The main flush is later for sure but we should start to see some then. With brambles for instance i often see a few late May but main flowering is mid to late June. I saw some still going end of july but most of that was the variety with a slight pink tinge to the flower. There was a tree flowering in the park the other day obviously similar to the false acacia crawling with bees they were even working the dropped flowers a complete carpet of bumbles honey bees and hornets attacking them to boot, i took a video and will post it when i figure out how

 

[masterBK]

Brambles are an aggregate species consisting of dozens of microspecies so variation in flowering time etc is to be expected. Many, even though they produce flowers with pollen and nectar, don't even need pollinating to produce their fruit/seed (they do a sort of cloning process called apomixis), some are polyploid and many are hybrids. They are nightmare to classify precisely so tend to be identified and lumped together as Rubus fructicosus agg

 

[enrico]

Interesting, thanks Ian 123..Ivy is much later here...But I haven't checked ours recently...will report back.
I'm quite interested in how geographic location affects different major nectar flows. Most writers seem to naively assume that whatever happens in their particular location also applies to the rest of the country.

In seven years in Shropshire the ivy only flowered once when the bees were active. Usually too late. Here in Somerset however a different story so far! Bees still going into mid winter long after the ivy.
E

 

[Millet]

This is the stage the Ivy is at presently in this neck of the woods it is on a west facing wall and i would say it has another month to go yet before it is of any use to the bees.

 

[user 3509]

The ivy is much further on in Plymouth. I noticed yesterday that the flower heads have formed and started to get bigger. It will be a few weeks before they are ready to open but they seem to have put on a spurt since the rain arrived.

 

[simonforeman]

Sorry asking allot of questions the last couple of days....

Just to say ivy here in lincs has the stems for the flowers branching out and I think will be out in 2-3 weeks.

My question is ...I have a part filled super on each hive that I intend to remove for OA vape then put back on for the bees to keep for winter. Will the ivy that they put in there ruin the super comb or will they be able to get it out when its crystallized, and if they don't use it will is be solid.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Sorry asking allot of questions the last couple of days....

Just to say ivy here in lincs has the stems for the flowers branching out and I think will be out in 2-3 weeks.

My question is ...I have a part filled super on each hive that I intend to remove for OA vape then put back on for the bees to keep for winter. Will the ivy that they put in there ruin the super comb or will they be able to get it out when its crystallized, and if they don't use it will is be solid.

They will eat it.
If they don’t it will be solid
The good news is you can keep it for later.... feeding nucs for example

 

[simonforeman]

Thanks for the reply.... I have loads of ivy around so I may not need to feed them at all with what they already have and then the ivy to top then up....

 

[Hivemaker.]

I have loads of ivy around so I may not need to feed them at all with what they already have and then the ivy to top then up....

Weigh the hive half way through October, if not up to weight... then feed them until they are.

 

[Millet]

The bees are piling yellow pollen in here today..on there doorstep is a green belt that is yellow with what i presume false dandelion that is covered in bees of all types..