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Summer is here!
Time to get busy in your apiary.
New to beekeeping?
Here's our guide to getting started.
A reward for beekeepers...
After busy months of hive checks and watching your bees increase in numbers to forage and store nectar, now comes the exciting part of the season – harvesting time.
There’s nothing quite like tasting the different flavors collected over the season.
But how much can you harvest, how often, and when do you need to consider leaving stores for overwintering?
Your checklist for summer beekeeping:
Harvesting tips for summer
Are your frames ready for harvest? It’s important to ensure your Flow Frames are full and capped before harvesting, otherwise your honey may ferment if the moisture content is too high.
Make sure you’re set up for success: When it’s harvest time in your apiary, read through our harvesting checklist to ensure you’ve got the optimal set-up for easy honey harvesting.
Top Tip: Each Flow Frame holds approximately 6.5 lb (3 kg) of unprocessed honey, this can increase if the bees really build-out each frame. Bee prepared with extra jars in case your first one overflows!
How much can I harvest?
The amount of honey available for harvest will be dependent on many factors, such as hive strength and available forage. Some beekeepers will harvest several times in one season, whilst other colonies will only produce enough to get them through the winter.
Depending on your region and climate, there can be periods of sparse nectar availability during the summer. It depends on what plants are flowering in your area at particular times. Keeping aware of how much food your bees are bringing home will allow you to judge when it’s appropriate to harvest.
Top Tip: Local knowledge is really important here, so get advice from other beekeepers in your area.
Bee organised, save time
The caddy helps you store, organise and transport your beekeeping essentials with ease and comes with a range of handy accessories.
Top Tip: Don’t get caught out when inspecting your hive. Keep your bee brush, smoker fuel, lighter, log book, pencil and any other equipment close to hand.
Offer some heat relief for your colony
If temperatures are typically over 85ºF/30ºC or if humidity is high in your area, you may need to offer your bees a little support so they can retain their optimal hive temperature. The ventilation controls on our Flow Hive 2 are really handy for this! If you have a Classic model, make sure the corflute slider is in the lower position or removed completely.
Ensure your bees have a nearby water source – here are some tips on how to create a water station for your bees. Try to ensure your hive has shade during the hottest part of the day.
Top Tip: Don’t make the water source too deep, bees aren’t good swimmers!
Bearding or Swarming?
At this time of year you might see your bees gathered in large numbers on the front of the hive. If the temperature is hot, they are probably bearding, however, it is still possible to get some late season swarms.
Bearding is yet another fascinating behaviour, where bees fan their wings to maintain the perfect temperature inside the hive.
If your hive is bearding, you may like to ask yourself two questions; 1. Is there enough room in the hive for the expanding colony? And, 2. Could they be preparing to swarm?
Top Tip: Do a hive inspection and look out for peanut-shaped queen cells that indicate a late season swarm.
Add a second brood box
If your hive is too full, or you want to ensure your bees will have enough stores to get through the leaner months ahead, this could be the right time to give them more space by adding a second brood box.
Top Tip: Many experienced beekeepers keep a swarm capture kit on hand (sometimes even in their car!) throughout beekeeping season, consisting of a brood box, brood frames, base, roof and a suit.
Will you split your hive?
If you have a large, healthy hive it is possible to create a new colony from it by making a split.
The concept is that you take a portion of an established colony and transfer it to a separate hive thereby creating two colonies.
They'll each have sufficient worker bee populations, stores and either their own queen or possibility of creating one from existing fertilised eggs.
Splitting your hive is the most successful way to mitigate swarms and is considered a responsible beekeeping practice.
Bonus: Learn about vertical splits.
Need extra help this summer?
There’s always more to learn to grow and deepen your knowledge in beekeeping.
So in conjunction with the world's experts we've created TheBeekeeper.org. It lets you fast-track your learning easily and enjoyably. Learn in your own time with high-quality videos explaining what you need to know in order to feel confident looking after your bees.
We're here to support your summer beekeeping!
Our customer service team will get back to you with an answer to your beekeeping question.
Share with a friend
Help a newbee set up a hive or split your colony with a friend! It’s a great way to speed up your beekeeping knowledge.
Our Refer-A-Friend program allows your friend to receive $50 off their first hive, and you receive a sweet $50 reward (no further discounts apply).
If you don’t have a beekeeping buddy, consider linking up with someone local on the Flow Community Forum or a Flow Hive Facebook group.