Lance,

FWIW in the last 3 or 4+ days there has been an increase in relative
humidity in your neck of the woods, and you are now in the heaviest part
of the spring nectar honey flow for your area. The tulip poplar is now
blooming prolifically in your area. (See American Bee Journal, Volume 144,
NO. 1, January 2004 p. 43), That combined with good soil moisture,
increased humidity and southern winds allows the tulip poplar to secrete
prolific quantities of nectar.  As the RH decreases evaporation of nectar
from the pedals thickens the concentration of nectar and vice-versa, as it
is it is my opinion that the nectar that is coming back to your hives from
the tulip poplar and other sources is of a sufficient moisture content
that local sources of water are not as needed as perhaps a week or two
ago. This also means more work evaporating the un-ripened honey.

Chuck Norton
Norton�fs Nut & Honey Farm
Reidsville, NC

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