Bee Folks:

I am tired of reading one man’s gospel that we all should keep bees the
way *he* does it; therefore, let me diffuse this absurdly hot issue by
introducing another topic: the possible connection between drought and
August mini-swarms.

As we have already noted earlier, almost all my NWC from CA have
supercedured and a number of them even spun off mini-swarms, the size of
two fists put together, in the process.  On the one hand I am happy that
they are splitting after extraction; on the other, I am unhappy now that
goldenrods will bloom in about two weeks.  We had a cold May this year,
followed by a severe drought, a nasty combination that reduced the crop to
nearly nil; only strong colonies managed to produce surplus, averaging
about 60 lbs of honey.  To maximize yeild, I have not even touched one
yard in the alfalfa fields.

Invariably a stressed plant would bloom at the wrong time, and I wonder if
the bees are doing the same.  I captured a few late swarms to use as nucs,
but their timing is really weird since there is very little flow before
goldenrods.  Have you observed an increased swarming activity during
drought?

I am feeding my bees RELIGIOUSLY.

Yoon

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