Beekeeping can be hugely enjoyable and sometimes very frustrating.
The dry summer seems to have held back the normal goldenrod honeyflow that usually gets going by Aug. 20. So far I have seen very little sign of a goldenrod flow in Hampden, yet in other areas, there has been one. It may be that it’s just late this year, but worse, we may not get one. If the flow fails to materialize, beekeepers face the very real possibility of their hives starving this winter unless they take action.
In a normal year the goldenrod honeyflow starts like a light has been switched on. The bees are listless and hanging out around the entrance of the hive on one day, and they are as busy as can be the next. In the evenings, the air in the bee yard becomes thick with a kind of funky smell of the bees curing the goldenrod nectar. I have seen hives pack on more than a super of goldenrod honey (35 pounds) per week on good years. So far this fall it does not appear to be one of those years.
Most hives built up some honey stores in June and July. Then we entered the “dearth” where each year in most of Maine there is little to no honeyflow. At this time, hives are consuming their stores of food quite rapidly as their populations are quite high. The goldenrod flow usually fills the hives with honey for the winter plus a bit to spare for the beekeeper.
The way things look right now there seems to be hardly more nectar coming in than the bees are consuming each day. If this does not improve, beekeepers will need to feed their bees to see that they have sufficient stores of food for the winter.
For a typical beehive with two deep supers, we would be looking for the top box to be completely full of honey by mid-October. After that time, the weather is too cold for bees to cure the sugar syrup and evaporate sufficient water from it. If the syrup (or nectar) has not been cured before this time, it can ferment in the hive giving bees a high risk of dysentery in the winter. So it’s important, when feeding hives for winter preparation, that we feed a concentrated sugar syrup, two parts sugar to one part water. They also should be fed early enough and fast enough for the bees to cure and store it by mid-October.
Now that fall is almost here, I am starting my next round of beekeeping beginner and intermediate classes. If you have been thinking of taking up beekeeping, you can sign up for one of these adult education classes.
Beginner class start dates: Bangor (992-5522) Sept. 7; Bucksport (469-2129) Sept. 13; Readfield (685-4923, ext. 1065) Sept. 19; Newport (368-3290) Oct. 3; Mount Desert Island (288-4702) Oct. 25; Ellsworth (664-7110) Oct. 26.
There also are intermediate classes in Bangor (992-5522) starting Sept. 28 and Bucksport (469- 2129) starting Oct. 4.
I have been asked a lot recently about the effect on beekeepers of the impending legislation making antibiotics used to treat European foulbrood no longer available over the counter. Many old-school beekeepers routinely treat new hives or hives going into the winter with antibiotics looking to prevent foulbrood occurring.
As a biologist, I can tell you that this prophylactic treatment is a very bad idea and is the one good thing to come out of the new law. From Jan. 1, it will be necessary to have a licensed veterinarian prescribe these treatments. Many beekeepers are worried about this because what is now a very inexpensive treatment will require a vet’s bill to acquire the stuff, but also by the time the beekeeper sees he has a problem that would require this treatment, it is usually well advanced, and time is of the essence.
Then they have to find a veterinarian who knows enough about bees that they are prepared to issue a prescription. Therein lies the next problem. Most veterinarians have not, until now, needed to know and recognize honeybee diseases. In many cases they will initially need to rely on the beekeeper to tell them what they are looking at.
With hindsight, the beekeeping community could have done more to help itself in the last few years that we have known this legislation was coming. What we should have been doing is offering veterinarians the chance to come and look inside our (hopefully) healthy hives so they could get a feel for what an unhealthy one looks like. So, if there are any veterinarians reading this column that have never put on a bee suit and looked inside a live honeybee hive, I offer you the opportunity for me to give you a tour inside some of my hives. Just give me a call.
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, petercowin@tds.net, 299-6948.