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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Subject:
From:
Murray McGregor <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 22 Aug 2002 17:15:31 +0100
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In article
<[log in to unmask]>, Ross
Langlands <[log in to unmask]> writes
>This seems like a stunning
>generalization dependent on site, season and altitude.

It is generally sound, but as always there are issues behind it which
make it less rigid than it seems.

As a general rule you are unlikely to get bees filling new areas of the
colony after that date, however, there is what we call 'filling in down'
going on at times throughout early Sept, in that the bees bring in
enough to fill in behind the brood as it hatches. The flip over to
'filling in down' from 'filling in up' is linked more to the strength of
the colony than absolutely to the date, and at the heather the bees are
worked out quickly and colony strength plummets (even earlier with old
queens). Thus, on ling heather, these dates tend to fit well with the
fall in colony strength, and coupled with the shortening day length and
decline in available forage it means that for practical purposes, your
crop is in by 5th Sept.

After this date though, bees will still gather small amounts of nectar,
plus larger amounts of pollen from both late heather and tormentil.

Getting them home is a more moveable thing, and if the weather is good
they can bring in a lot of good pollen before taking them home. Ideally
you need them bedded down for winter, in a lowland site, with a good
feed on board, by the end of the first week of October.
--
Murray McGregor

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