Question

[Bridget]

I've a super of honey but not really capped enough. Heather is about to start so I'd like to get it off before then so I will have some drawn foundation for next year. Weather not great for the next few days which may delay the Heather a bit. My question is, if it's wet and they can't do much foraging, will the bees occupy themselves capping it off.


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[gavin]

I'll be extracting some today which is not capped then taking the colonies to the heather. There is no issue if they haven't been bringing in fresh nectar in the last couple of days, it will be dry enough. Just make sure that you don't store it in a humid place before extracting.

G.

[Bridget]

That's really useful. Thanks Gavin


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[The Drone Ranger]

honey refractometer used to be dear but cheap nowadays
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=node%3D3579771031&field-keywords=honey+refractometer

[RDMW]

That's interesting. Several on offer there. Do you have experience of a good one? Once extracted and in a honey bucket how do you reduce the water content? I have a warm cupboard and a dehumidifier. If I covered the settling tank with muslin to keep out the dust and put it and the dehumidifier into the cupboard would that do the job?
No end to the toys a beekeeper needs:)


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[The Drone Ranger]

I bought mine long ago so I dont know if they still make it
The one with 20 reviews on amazon looks OK
You do want to look for automatic temperature compensation and a %scale
I'm sure they will all be better than guessing

If the honey might crystalise then its even more likely to ferment when stored
Below 17% water is the recommended safe maximum

http://www.bee-craft.com/water-content-of-honey/
Have a look at the beecraft page for some more info

Capped honey is always OK so no checks needed
Heather honey is apparently safe at 20% where the bees cap it (23%max for sale)

It would be safest to check suspect combs before extracting because some with high water might as well go back to feed the bees

[Bridget]

The extracted honey is very pale. Not like any I have had from my bees before and I rarely get honey before the heather. I thought at first there was syrup in it, but although I had to feed the bees in June we took the supers off. Perhaps when we put the super back on they moved the syrup up. Anyway we will check with a refractometer this week


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[Bridget]

So got a refractometer and checked. 17% water so am happy with that as there wasn't much of it and will soon be gone. But so pale?https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170810/8e945fc36fe7531e73e890cef6ca0d69.jpg
Could it be clover? It's only blossom from the past 4 weeks.


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[Feckless Drone]

Clover could be right. How about willowherb? Have you noted any of that distinct pollen going in?

[Bridget]

What colour is the williwherb pollen


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[Poly Hive]

Clearest I ever have seen was from fushia in Lerwick, water white and I did read a P&J through it.

PH

[Jambo]

What colour is the williwherb pollen

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I learned recently on here and then by investigating the plants that it's a sort of light blue/grey. Big grains that feel unusual between your fingers.

I have noticed that most RBWH flowers don't seem to have pollen on them - wonder if it is short lived somehow - so my bees although feeding on it in big numbers at the moment only seem to be bringing nectar back, mostly.

Clover pollen on the other hand is a muddy brown.

[fatshark]

Out walking on Wednesday and I came across a huge patch of flowering RBWH, an acre in size or more. It looked fantastic. It was alive with bumble bees. Didn't see a single honey bee on it, despite there being colonies well within range. I'm not aware of other forage that would be 'distracting' the honey bees at the moment. I wonder whether it yields nectar in a way that makes it more attractive to bumble bees?

[The Drone Ranger]

Purple white and yellow pollen coming in so they are finding some flowers
Must make up some slides haven't done that for ages and it is good fun
There never seems to be enough time the season is so short :)

[Poly Hive]

Rather thought I was up to speed on acronyms but what is RBWH please?


PH

[Feckless Drone]

Rose Bay Willow Herb

[Bridget]

I learned recently on here and then by investigating the plants that it's a sort of light blue/grey. Big grains that feel unusual between your fingers.

I have noticed that most RBWH flowers don't seem to have pollen on them - wonder if it is short lived somehow - so my bees although feeding on it in big numbers at the moment only seem to be bringing nectar back, mostly.

Clover pollen on the other hand is a muddy brown.

We do have RBWH round here but not that close that I am aware of and it's not been out quite long enough. However I did find some of the big blue grey grains of pollen, that you were talking about, on the varroa tray yesterday so they are bringing it in now.


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[Jambo]

Out walking on Wednesday and I came across a huge patch of flowering RBWH, an acre in size or more. It looked fantastic. It was alive with bumble bees. Didn't see a single honey bee on it, despite there being colonies well within range. I'm not aware of other forage that would be 'distracting' the honey bees at the moment. I wonder whether it yields nectar in a way that makes it more attractive to bumble bees?

Interesting isn't it - I observe the same around here sometimes. I also notice that when you do see both honey bees and bumbles on it, the bumbles seem to go methodically from flower to flower, whereas the honeybess are much more choosy. Either they're nutters or they have an extra sense that tells them whether each one is worth bothering with or not. Maybe what you saw was this on a whole field scale?

The Hive Alive programme that was on BBC2 recently had an interesting section in it about honey bees possibly being able to sense electrical charges of flowers which vary depending on their nectar content.

[fatshark]

Honey and bumble bees scent mark visited flowers with a short-lived 'smell' which prevents them revisiting recently visited flowers. The honey bee stuff was published >20 years ago (I'm not really familiar with the literature in this area) but there's been a recent paper on bumble bees which shows they can discriminate between flowers marked by the same species and nest mates.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5339730/

I'm playing hookey today and walked past the same patch of RBWH late this morning. Again, thick with B. terrestris and B. pascuorum, but not a single honey bee.

No wonder my supers are so empty!

[Jambo]

Interesting thanks Fatshark.

Maybe your bees are just lazy!

[alancooper]

Or they have a better offer elsewhere?

[fatshark]

Nothing much about here other than some himalayan balsam ... though that's very patchy. I've been feeding some colonies that are desperately low on stores.

[The Drone Ranger]

Rather thought I was up to speed on acronyms but what is RBWH please?


PH

I'm not a fan of TLA's either Poly Hive in this case its a 4 letters so I suppose FLA is the right term
One I particularly don't like is BIAS
Whats wrong with just "brood" ?
BREXIT whats wrong with exit
Just about managing = Jams
Comfortably under no tremendous stress =

Sun today I'm off to get the suit on or STIOTGTSO doesn't trip off the tongue :)

[fatshark]

Hi DR ... brood vs. BIAS.
I use the latter to mean eggs, larvae and sealed brood.
Maybe others don't.

[alancooper]

Nothing much about here other than some himalayan balsam ... though that's very patchy. I've been feeding some colonies that are desperately low on stores.
It is 18:54, 14 deg C, overcast - and my bees are on (RBWH flowering for a couple of weeks longer than usual) - roll on some decent September weather and an ivy flow.

[The Drone Ranger]

Hi DR ... brood vs. BIAS.
I use the latter to mean eggs, larvae and sealed brood.
Maybe others don't.

That's just brood fatshark and because it has 4 letters its not even a decent TLA

Why not

Sealed Brood Only ie = SBO
or
Eggs and Larva Only = ELO

Or you could indicate ELO by humming a few bars of "Mr Blue Sky"

Its nuts to talk in code IMHO LOL! :)

[fatshark]

ROFLMAO (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ROFLMAO)