A very sunny May gave the bees just the pickup they needed after a rather cool April. The warm weather brings on all the blooms and flow of nectar into the hives. The stimulus of higher temperatures, longer days and nectar flow results in very rapid egg laying by the queen bee. Hives have been building up so fast that many are going into swarming mode, which has made spring management particularly hectic.
I also have had a number of colonies out to pollinate some organic blueberry fields. Sending out hives for pollination is always a risk. But at least by sending them to an organic farm I eliminate the risks of pesticide problems.
However, in Maine there are always bears! Unfortunately out of 16 hives sent out this year, only 15 came back, a few had been a bit chewed up and one was lost altogether. Of course, the bees don’t have to be out on pollination duty to be at risk from bears. I’ve had them right in my own front yard. I need another electric fence!
In April and May I distributed 450 packages of bees to customers to start or restock hives that had died over the winter. Since then, I also have made and distributed about 110 of the 150 or so nucleus colonies I have ordered.
That’s a lot of new beekeepers, which is a promising development for honeybees. The more new beekeepers we get, the more diversified the population base of bees becomes, the healthier for species. Far better we have thousands more beekeepers with one or two hives than one or two beekeepers with thousands of hives.
It’s my aim to establish as many new hives and as many new beekeepers as possible. Many people want to help the bees, but not all are in a position to keep a few hives at their house. I’m planning a sponsored beehive program, where people can assist me with the cost of new hives and their associated equipment. This will allow me to start many new hives that I can maintain in the Bangor region.
Part of the objective of this program will be to establish a breeding program of northern reared honeybees. It’s been shown by a number of research programs that hives that are the progeny of successfully over wintered colonies in the north tend to do better in subsequent years up here than those colonies established in the north from southern-reared bees and queens. As a thank you, I will be giving bottles of honey and other perks to sponsors.
A Gold sponsor, $270, will receive a certificate of sponsorship and a photo of the hive, their name will appear on the hive, and they will receive 12 8-ounce bottles of honey from the hive. A Silver sponsor, $180, will receive a certificate of sponsorship and photo of the hive and will receive eight 8-ounce bottles of honey from the hive. A Bronze sponsor, $90, will receive a certificate of sponsorship and will receive six 8-ounce bottles of honey from the hive.
With the onset of the June/July clover bloom comes one of the larger honey flows of the year. Clover produces a lot of nectar especially if we get hot days and warm nights. That is provided we also have had sufficient water. Right now, things are looking awfully dry. Of course, too much rain and not only can the bees not fly, but the nectar is washed out of the flower. Worse still, if it’s cool and wet, the plant stops producing nectar altogether, even when the weather improves.
It’s never simple. This year I will hope for most of my hives to make a super or two full of beautiful, light clover honey. So far they are doing well, and those supers are filling fast.
Later in the summer will be the goldenrod flow. This is just as hit or miss as the clover flow. Rarely do we get both a good clover flow and a good goldenrod flow.
Goldenrod yields a darker honey, which will also crystallize relatively quickly. Some people mistakenly throw crystallized honey away thinking it has spoiled. This is just a natural process that can easily be reversed by warming the bottle up gently to melt the crystals. In fact I prefer crystallized honey … mainly because you can pile more onto a slice of bread without it running off.
Peter Cowin, aka The Bee Whisperer, is president of the Penobscot County Beekeepers Association. His activities include honey production, pollination services, beekeeping lessons, sales of bees and bee equipment, and the removal of feral bee hives from homes and other structures. Check out “The Bee Whisperer” on Facebook, email petercowin@tds.net or call 299-6948.