September 2024

What a weird summer!

This summer was very hot and we also had a lot of rain. Perfect conditions for a great honey year, right?! Wrong. There are number of factors, both with the bees and their environment, that determine whether there is surplus honey for us to harvest. This year was close to a bust. There are years when a single hive will have hundreds of pounds of honey. This year I was lucky to see single digit amounts on each hive. So what happened??

The bees: The evolution of bees has put them in sync with the nectar flows. The bees work to have their peak population during the heaviest nectar flow. In Maine, the peak flow is generally in July. So the hive builds up from the early spring population of maybe 10,000 to 15,000 bees, all the way up to 40,000 - 50,000 bees in July. This allows the hives to capture the maximum amount of honey if it’s available. So, what can affect their population? The beekeeper, disease, loss of habitat, pesticides, herbicides, etc…The beekeeper has some control over being competent, the beekeeper can also work on making sure the bees are pest / disease free. The other aspects are not very easily controlled. Many people use pest services that blast their lawns and plants with pesticides which can devastate a colony. Herbicides kill many of the flower that “Big Chem” has deemed “weeds” such as dandelions and clover. (Please burn actual weeds like crabgrass and boycott Round-up etc…)

The weather: The weather has the biggest effect on available nectar. Some years we have drought and subsequently there isn’t much nectar available, since plants need water to produce nectar. Other years we have super wet and cool summers. The wet, cool summers are better than droughts, but just like Goldilocks, we want something just right. The optimal heat and moisture. If it’s too hot, some plants will cease nectar production to keep in moisture to stay alive. If too cool and not enough sun there won’t be massive blooms which are required for surplus honey. (Surplus defined as more than the amount the colony needs to eat and survive).

So what happened this year?
I don’t have a definitive answer. I did split my largest colonies in the early spring which could have had an affect on the population during the peak flow. It was one of the hottest summers on record. The answer is…..I don’t definitively know :( I can only take a guess. The ladies in the hives didn’t tell me why. Maybe it was the solar eclipse? LOL.