# Nectar flow in Alabama?



## Ted adams (Mar 20, 2012)

I'm in Ga one full medium of honey already, do you have lots of bee's or have they swarmed?


----------



## mrsl (Apr 21, 2010)

The nectar flow is on in south AL, and has been for about 3 weeks now. Swarm season has also been going on for about 3 weeks now (at my location). I've only added supers in the past week; if you haven't checked for swarm/queen cells since you put supers on you may want to do so. Sounds like you may not have enough bees to add supers yet.


----------



## Mike Gillmore (Feb 25, 2006)

That's a great suggestion, to check the brood boxes closely. You may find the honey backfilled in the broodnest. 

How many supers with foundation did you add to each colony? With foundation you should add only 1 box at a time until they start drawing out comb. Also, if you are using an excluder remove it until they move up into the super and start to draw the cells and store honey.


----------



## Intheswamp (Jul 5, 2011)

Mike, is that roughly 80% drawn out comb before you add another super or 80% filled comb? In other words, if the bees have 80% empty comb with maybe a little nectar in it then add another super?

Thanks!!!!!!
Ed


----------



## TonyGotaTruck (Jan 29, 2011)

I only added 1 shallow honey super per hive... I have fed them sugar water but not on a constant basis. Just when I can get out there...

I will do a better inspection this week. I have tried to leave them alone and let them work... More later


----------



## Mike Gillmore (Feb 25, 2006)

Intheswamp said:


> ... if the bees have 80% empty comb with maybe a little nectar in it then add another super?
> Ed


With supers, if there is a good flow on I would not necessarily even wait to have 80% drawn out. If the bees have moved up and they are filling the cells as they build them out, another box can be added well before they have 80% drawn out. You can gauge it by the intensity of the flow and wax building.


----------



## Mike Gillmore (Feb 25, 2006)

TonyGotaTruck said:


> I only added 1 shallow honey super per hive...
> 
> I will do a better inspection this week.... More later


Look forward to hearing what you find. Did you have a queen excluder under the shallow?


----------



## wdcrkapry205 (Feb 11, 2010)

My guess is your bees have swarmed. Tulip Poplar began to bloom here 3 weeks earlier than usual, if we get 2 more weeks it'll be a miracle. Swarming to me seems to be a worse than it use to be, my guess is that the mechanism that allows feral bees to survive (swarming) has made its way into most of the gene pool.


----------



## Intheswamp (Jul 5, 2011)

Mike, thanks on your comment above about supering when the super might not be 80% drawn but being filled some with nectar. Adding another super about then sounds good. I'm a first year newbee and have had some bad swarm issues already.  I managed to catch two swarms, rehive, only to lose both in the next couple of days. I then had another one but got it and it looks like they're working bringing in stores pretty good now. One swarm that absconded actually left a handful of bees *and* and queen...not sure what the story is there but the colony has acquired a good many extra bees since then and appear to be working pretty good. I'm going into the hives in the morning and will be adding some new supers. Thanks for the help!

Ed


----------



## mrsl (Apr 21, 2010)

Ed, try adding a frame of open brood when you catch a swarm; I haven't had a swarm leave that I've done this with. I will add the disclaimer that I have only had bees for two years, so I'm still learning too


----------



## Intheswamp (Jul 5, 2011)

Thanks mrsl. I've read of folks doing that. I will *definitely* give it a shot next time I encounter a swarm!

Ed


----------



## TonyGotaTruck (Jan 29, 2011)

Mike Gillmore said:


> Look forward to hearing what you find. Did you have a queen excluder under the shallow?


No Queen excluder... I checked all 3 hives today. Two of them are drawing comb in the honey super. The other was not. I swapped the 2 deep brood boxes to see if I could get them going. There is one honey super on top and also a inside feeder. There is white clover all in the pastures near them and saw bees working the clover... I did not see any swarm cells at all.. I think they are just slow and also they probably have been filling the brood box with honey as well...

Thoughs?


----------



## squarepeg (Jul 9, 2010)

wdcrkapry205 said:


> My guess is your bees have swarmed. Tulip Poplar began to bloom here 3 weeks earlier than usual, if we get 2 more weeks it'll be a miracle. Swarming to me seems to be a worse than it use to be, my guess is that the mechanism that allows feral bees to survive (swarming) has made its way into most of the gene pool.


what do you mean about getting two more weeks?


----------

