Guilfordbeekeepers.org

Just curious what folks are seeing out there with the flow... To me, it looks like tulip poplar and blackberry are basically done, and privet seems to be the only blooms I'm seeing now.

I feel like the rains have really hurt this year, and everything bloomed at the same time rather than staggered over a longer period as in years' past. Thoughts?

I'll have a better idea about the flow later this week after checking some hives. This year has been different at the house. The holly type plants bloomed early and for the first time in years, were not damaged by late freezes. One look at the berry load on these plants confirms the honey bee activity I saw on them. How much of this nectar went to brood rearing and how much to storage? My tulip poplars were late in blooming so that they came along after the holly rather than at the same time. I'm really hoping that that nectar made some honey.

Normally, a compact bloom season leads to more nectar to be stored and more honey--unless the blooms come too early and bees have not built up enough to take advantage of the flow.

Royl always has a much earlier and stronger nectar flow than I do and he is only 6-7 miles from me. When they say all beekeeping is local, "they" aren't kidding.

I still have some kind of modest flow going on at the house. The bees are going out for nectar at a steady pace and are showing only a modest interest in my nectarometer and in 2 supers of wet frames I put out 2 days ago. My harvest at home is down this year, but not as bad as I thought it would be. I extracted 18 medium frames that the bees finished up in the last couple of weeks.

I might not have a fancy nectarometer like Jacobs, but I agree that at least my home bees here in Greensboro still seem to be on some sort of flow. I thought things were done a couple weeks ago, left some partially-filled supers on the hives, went on vacation, came back and checked everything today after two weeks, and those supers are now full!

I did inspections this morning and harvested honey, and there were zero signs of robbing. The bees have been coming and going all day with purpose.

Without a little rain mixed in, I'm kind of shocked that they're having success. Maybe mimosa, crape myrtle, sumac, and late ligustrum/privet?