Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: Carol on September 22, 2013, 08:05:16 pm
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Those of you in the Pepperbush area....they are blooming now. (central FL). If you have a good flow...how many supers would you expect to beable to extract? Just wondering if my young hives will beable to put up enough to feed themselves thru the winter.
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I presume you are referring to Brazilian Pepper, a large nonindigenous invasive bush that, along with Potato Vines, is the target of many eradication efforts. The BP numbers along the west coast have been greatly reduced over the last couple of decades, but they are still common in rural areas, and the bees do like them.
If memory serves, you only have two or three hives, so what will you do with all that honey? I only have one and I’m still eating last fall’s honey.
I never take the whole super, I take out 6 or 8 frames depending on how full the frames are, and if there is a flow on. I look and see how the hive is doing and decide accordingly. There have been times when I close back up and leave empty handed. I also never feed them and they have flourished for years. Mine are feral mutts, and who would feed them in the wild?
I believe local conventional wisdom is to leave a medium super for a healthy hive through winter, but winters can vary greatly. I mostly don’t bother the bees too much, they know what they’re doing.
Have fun!
8-)
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Your bees will make it through "winter" just fine....if they made it through our summer dearth already! Pepperbush is nothing I have heard of...Brazilian Pepper I have...and it's not a desired honey maker (for consumption). Great fuel for the hives though for winter splits! REMEMBER..."winter" rules don't apply to you. Watch your bees. and respond accordingly.
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Both hives are packages that were installed on Sept 4th. One was combined with the bees left after the 2 swarms and no Queen. Sam had another package with him...a very good sized one...so I bought that one also and installed it. He felt a good Brazillian Pepper flow would let them build up enough...but I do have 4 quarts of honey I can feed them if I have to. Just wondering how many supers most people get from the pepper flow.
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Carol, It's my understanding unless that's honey your bees made it's not advisable to feed it to them. If the bees that made it was sick then your bees can get sick.
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It's honey I took from the hive after the swarms...3 frames after first swarm and 5 more after second. I was afraid the hive was so low on bees that wax moths could get in and ruin the honey....so I can feed it back to them...treatment free honey.
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Sundog> that is the way I hope to keep my bees....less invasive....I spend a lot of time on a small houseboat during the cooler months and wouldn't want to be feeding everyday anyways. This year I'll put in a quart or two of honey if they need it...but hope they will be on their own next year.
We use honey for most all sweetner...no white sugar. My brother in law does the same so we'd share with him and friends. Not looking to go into business. Probably end up giving most away...I just really love having the bees here. Extra bees? guess I'll just be populating the hollow trees around here....and believe me....there are plenty.
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@ BIM > I thought there was quite a dearth this summer too, in spite of all the rain. I would have expected the opposite.
@ Carol > Whose gonna feed the bees in the trees? The hives will downsize as the weather cools and you may not get any swarms. I don't think mine have ever swarmed. Never seen them beard either.
As I said before, BP is getting scarcer in my area, but the mangroves are rebounding and the palms are numerous. Makes for very dark pungent honey and everyone raves about it.
My .02¢ = Enjoy your honey and let your bees be bees. They love their work.
8-)
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I hear people say often that Brazilian pepper is a bad tasting honey and not for for the table. I don't hear that from people that are tasting it for the first time.
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It doesn't matter to me what it tastes like...what ever they put up is theirs. I'll have to try it next year. I'm just glad there are a lot of things out there blooming for them. Including the Skunk Vine. Wonder what honey from that will taste like. :?