Dan wrote:

"My only hive has a trait of not finishing capping honey before filling
the next super. What happens is they fill 2-3 suppers but will not finish
capping the bottom 1/3 if the combs in each super. This happened this
spring during the locust flow and again now during the sourwood flow.  My
local beekeepers have not seen this kind of behavior before. It really
creates a problem as I cannot remove up to 4 supers to extract."

Given all the positives, "strong hives and better than most colonies", I
suggest that the sourwood flow this year in Watauga, Wilkes and Avery
Counties has been rather poor at the beginning, mostly cloudy and overcast
with rain for the 1st 12 days followed by better conditions but not great.
The bloom is still going on at the higher elevations more northern
counties. Let your bees finish capping their honey if you can, or do the
shake test or use a refractometer per Fischer's suggestion.

Next year I would force them to cap about 85% of a super prior to putting
on another super unless you have the bees so crowded as to completely fill
two or three drawn supers as you put on your supers, having finished
extraction from spring honey. You really need crowded hives to produce
sourwood honey in a marginal flow. It's been that way in your neck of the
woods this year and much of the Blue Ridge to the southwest.

Regards,

Chuck Norton
Norton's Nut & Honey Farm
Reidsvile, NC

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