That is great, been slow getting much rain around here, but hopefully after this weekend it perks up.

Many flowers don't give up huge amounts of nectar at a time, or it isn't as accessible to Hbees, I have some arrow leaf clover that is almost too deep for them to get the nectar, butterflies love it. Your getting a stellar flow from something for sure, mesquite maybe? Mesquite would be a great one to have for sale too!

I have lots of mesquite all around my property and property around it. That’s likely why the honey is so good 😊

Oh yeah, if that's what you have, it's supposed to be top notch. I don't know much about mesquite flowering and which ones do, since I haven't been around acres of it with bee's, but it is known to be good quality.

Whats the moisture running on what you where able to extract already?

It tested at 16.1%. I’m going to test a few suppers Thursday to see if I can pull them. That way I can extract them and put the drawn out suppers back on.

Right now all I have left are frames that have no drawn wax. So they will have to expend a lot of resources to draw them out. I would like to do that later after June so I have them ready for next year.

I’m a metal man so woods not my favorite thing to mess with, I’ll check that one out though. My dad has a 10” Jet he said I can go get so I’ll see how big that one is before I buy anything.

A JET, no brainer there sir lol

That is a great moisture content, I got 16.5 last year in the drought, usually run 18ish.

I'd get drawn what I could while they're willing to draw comb. With the flow you're having, might as well get some drawn, much harder when its a poor run. I'd at least consider mixing a few un-drawn in after you extract a few.

Nice to be in your position tho lol

Yeah. The moisture was low on those suppers. Most likely because some of the frames were overwintered.

Also I believe there are more honey locust trees that are contributing to my abundant nectar flow. That’s may be why it’s so light in color and has a very floral taste.

I’ll definitely put some un-drawn frames mingled with the drawn frames. I’ve been doing that already and they have built out those frames in less than a week

If this flow continues it’s going to be an unbelievable year. I’ve had to check the suppers every 4 days and add boxes each time to one or two of my hives.

The rain in the Wolfe City area has been regular and mostly late day or night. So it’s not interfering with the bees foraging. Not like the past couple of years when we had weeks of rain causing the bees to consume stored honey as they were staying in the hives during the rain.

Look up honey locust, they don't produce much nectar, the "sweetness" is in the seed pod, The black locust is supposed to be a great, yet unreliable nectar source tho. Whatever it is, you got it lol

Moisture has more to do with nectar source, and weather conditions, The dry cold fronts we've been getting, probably helped a ton since nectar is about 75% water. As long as you keep it in sealed buckets, you'll be a bottling fool when its over.

Thumper, 1 tool I got that so far has been the "bees knees"! Track saw, I can break down 4x8 sheets without any help with this set up.

Festool's are top of the line, but I wasn't spending that kind of coin on a saw setup, I went with evolution track saw, also ordered a extra Wen 2 piece track.

https://www.amazon.com/Evolution-Power-Tools-R185CCSX-Multi-Material/dp/B07T4CZP31

https://www.amazon.com/Evolution-Power-Tools-R185CCSX-Multi-Material/dp/B07T4CZP31

Got into to some very hot bees in Palo Pinto County today, short video the homeowner took as I was gloved up. Bees went after the grand kids next door, ran the dog 1/8 mile down the street. Even bees carrying pollen where stinging, gave up on hiving them and put the hive down as it was in a 8" crawl space under the house. Took about 30 stings to the legs as I went basically for recon, but they had to be dealt with pdq.
Video really doesn't capture the whole thing, there where 1000's of bees out, some trying to get in the house, it was nuts

Dem gals was mad!

Dang. Those bees needed to be culled. Must have been very Africanized strain.

Yeah, they seemed a nice and erthing when I got there, as soon as i bent over to see how they where getting in, they started coming out, Used a shovel to dig dirt out from below the hole to see how deep the siding was and all hell broke loose, all I had was a jacket and gloves as I was just there to evaluate what I'd need to bring back for the removal.

They where beautiful bees and the foragers where carrying some of the largest pockets of pollen I've ever seem, just a shame, but those genetics need to die.

Had a chance to check one of they queens I grafted earlier in the summer. found eggs on the 9th, so looked in to see how she was doing and found 4 frames like this, will need to add another brood box soon as these will fill the box quick when they hatch.

Also got my 3 new cordovan queens from cali Thursday and got them in new boxes. Breeder said the color may have a bit more variance as they have added a hygienic strain this year, should be fantastic bees. Going to check if they where released early, then maybe I can get better photo

Were your queens released? Our requeened pissy hives with Cordovan’s are way calmer already thank goodness.

Yes sir. Put in at noon Thursday and they where all out Sat at noon, found the 3rd as she was laying. I was going to check that Sunday, but chance of rain,

Yep, sometimes all it takes is a good queen and things calm down, they where probably in panic mode when you got them.

The wife’s Flowhives are almost full, their filling the back of the frames now and should be capped in a few days. It’s actually pretty cool being able to watch the progress and how fast they can fill the frames.

Not sure if theses flowers are good sources for the bees. Anyone know if they are

The bees seem to be very busy



[video:youtube][/video]

Ok so I know y’all probably haven’t been really following some of my bee posts except for maybe Western..

But I got a package of bees last April/May.

They were extremely slow to draw out comb and despite my best efforts only got about 5.5 maybe 6 frames drawn before winter. Other than that they seemed fine just a small hive.

They survived coming out of winter but were in bad shape. I did an inspection early spring and had little hope, I didn’t see snd eggs or larvae, very little capped brood and very little supplies. I did a Formic acid treatment for mites.

I had written off the hive pretty much.

Well I kept an eye on them and was still seeing bees after 5-6 weeks so I gave them a super.

With rising temperatures I noticed recently some serious “bearding”

Check on them today and to my surprise they have almost filled the super with honey but it’s not capped.

I added a super, removed entrance reducer and placed nickels under the back of the top box for heat ventilation.

Will this help with the bearding and heat or should I think about a screened bottom board?

Hive is located where it gets morning and afternoon sun but shaded early evening.

Black or Brown eyed Susan, literature says they are a great source of nectar and pollen, but honestly I have never seen a bee on mine. I look throughout the day as some flowers produce early and some late and all I have seen is butterflies. Could be possible my bees prefer to drive further for groceries, but they hit the garden hard and it's 50' away

I use pennies, nickles, but mostly popsicle sticks towards the back side of the hive. I figure the convection when they are fanning outwards will pull air across the center of the hive (theory anyway) Strong hive and you can open it up to a 1/4 " .

Have you confirmed the queen is laying now and you have replacement bees being made? If so, then maybe things have turned around for you. I have had queenless hives and ones with virgins that seem to collect a lot more since they haven't the brood yet to care for. Usually its my virgin/young hives that will do this once they know they have a queen on the job