Throughout the spring, bees have been visiting flowering
trees and plants to collect nectar and pollen to gather food for their
colonies. Nectar from spring flowers makes for delightful, mild-flavored honey.
Bees, like the one in today’s photo, make a surplus of honey from clover if
there is a large population of forager-aged bees in the hive. Clover, the world’s
greatest source of nectar for honey, is a legume which secretes nectar freely
when temperatures are between 80 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Beekeepers maximize
their honey production by encouraging the build-up of the colonies to a maximum
six weeks prior to the major nectar flows. Beekeepers are challenged to
maintain their hives at such large populations, which are often on the verge of
swarming. Once a hive has swarmed, it holds too few bees to make a harvestable
surplus of honey. Beekeepers enjoy taking advantage of springtime swarming to
add colonies to their bee yards. Captured swarms make up for winter colony
losses as well as increasing one’s hive count. This year saw plenty of seasonal
springtime swarming; we shook a number of swarms from tree limbs, and we
captured several colonies of bees in swarm traps. Swarms captured in Arkansas before
the Fourth of July have enough time to build honeycombs in their new hives for
the queen to have cells to lay eggs and for the bees to store honey for the upcoming
winter if the beekeeper provides the hive with supplemental feeding. However, swarms
hived after the Fourth of July do not have enough time to build combs in their
hive, and usually perish over winter. It is, therefore, better to combine these
late-season swarms with existing colonies.
The Covid-19 pandemic is forcing everyone to make
significant changes in their daily activities to protect each other as the
virus spreads. The local library is providing online entertainment and information
for young children through their Family Nature Club. You may watch Mary Spears
Polk interview me at https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=264340481462017.
--Richard
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