June 2024
Early Summer Flowers over – Beware the June Gap - Newsletter from Alan Riach
I expect a few of you will now be patiently waiting for tardy new queens to start laying. New queens in very populous colonies can take weeks before they start laying (4 or 5 weeks is not unusual) and of course, if the summer flows have ceased, the bees are not keen to allow new mouths to be produced. Hopefully, most of the swarming, which was rather early this year, will now be past, but keep checking anyway.
For those of you in Canola (Edible Oil Seed Rape) areas, you should consider taking off some honey before it crystallises. At this time of year it is usually safe to take off frames that are not fully sealed, but do check the moisture content. It should be below 19% (must be under 20% to sell legally). When harvesting, frames that are not completely sealed, hold the frame horizontally and give it a good shake over the open super. If wet honey or nectar flies out, then the frame is not safe to harvest. However, it is safer to check with a Honey refractometer. These measure the % of water in the honey.
Do equip yourself with a Honey Refractometer.
There are two types available – Conventional optic type and new Digital type. The digital types are very expensive (upwards of £200), and the optical ones work just as well and cost around £25 depending on supply (some come with calibration fluid, but all are pre-calibrated). You place a smear of honey on the optic screen, hold the refractometer up to a bright light so that the light is falling on the optic screen and view through the eyepiece. You will see a calibrated screen with a dark section above and a light section below. Where the two sections meet, read off the water content %. Please note that you must purchase a Honey refractometer as only they will be calibrated for testing Honey. When using, ensure that the honey has settled and is not aerated. Honey in the comb is ok for testing.
A potential danger at this time of year is the “June Gap”. This is a period when the early summer flowers have come and gone and the mid to late summer flowers have not yet come into bloom. When it occurs, it is particularly dangerous for the colonies as they have large populations with many mouths to feed and nothing coming in.
Last year we had quite a severe June Gap. The bees in the observation hives in the Honey Tent at the Highland Show (late June) refused to venture out. June gaps often have this effect on colonies; they go into a sort of “halt all flying mode”. I expect that with large numbers, as would be common at this time of year, they realise the dangers of zero income. If the flows stop, keep an eye on your bees – remember the all-important F of FEDSS (Food, Eggs, Disease, Space and Swarming). If you think the colony has run out of food (nothing in the supers and very little in the upper corners of the brood frames), then remove the supers and apply a feed. 4 or 5 litres of thick syrup (1kg sugar to 0.6lit water) or apply a 2 kg lump of fondant. Another sign of starvation is that the bees will have ejected most of the drones and there will be very little activity at the hive entrance. The June Gap may only last a week or two.
Time to start thinking about preparing for late summer flows. With luck, the Lime will yield and if yielding strongly is a flow capable of filling a super in 10 days, so make sure you have supers available. Lime honey is high in fructose and stays liquid for a long time, as well as being one of the tastiest honeys, pale green with a gentle taste of the old- fashioned limeade lemonade. However, even if the Lime doesn’t oblige (I usually get good lime flows about 3 or 4 years in 5), then there is sure to be bramble and rosebay willowherb (fireweed).
