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Beekeeping
All Containers›Shop by use case›Beekeeping›Working the seasons›The summer flowShop all honey and bee products →
Working the seasons

The summer flow

By Dwight Davis, Founder

Updated

On this page6
The flow is the few weeks a year when a colony brings in more than it uses. Almost all of your honey is made in that window, and almost all of the ways to lose it are things you did not do beforehand.

What a flow is

A period when enough is blooming, in enough quantity, for a colony to store a surplus. It is driven by what grows near you and by weather, and it is shorter than people expect. In many regions the main flow is a matter of weeks.

Knowing it has started

  • Weight climbs. The hive gets noticeably heavier week to week.
  • White wax appears on the top bars and frame edges. Bees only build when there is a reason.
  • The colony becomes calm. Busy foragers are not defensive foragers.
  • Nectar in open cells, wet and shining, before it is capped.

Supering

Add space before it is needed rather than when the boxes are full. A colony with nowhere to put nectar stores it in the brood nest instead, which crowds the queen and makes swarming more likely at exactly the wrong moment.

Running out of space during a flow costs the crop twice. Once because nectar that had nowhere to go was never collected, and again because a congested colony swarms and takes half the workforce with it in the middle of the only productive weeks of the year.

Keeping up

Check weekly during a strong flow, which is more often than the rest of the season and briefly. You are answering one question: is there room. Add a super when the one below is about two-thirds full, not when it is finished.

Drawn comb from a previous year is worth a great deal here. A colony given drawn comb stores immediately; a colony given foundation has to build first, and building costs it honey.

When it stops

Abruptly, usually. The weight stops climbing, the bees get short-tempered and the dearth begins. That transition is the signal to stop adding space and start thinking about mites and winter weight rather than about honey.

Harvest comes after the flow ends, not during it, and it comes after working out what the colony needs.

References

Penn State Extension. Honey Bee Management Throughout the Seasons. extension.psu.edu
eXtension Bee Health. Seasonality of Brood and Adult Populations; Beekeeping Equipment. bee-health.extension.org
University of Georgia Extension. Honey Bees and Beekeeping (B1045). extension.uga.edu
Written from published extension guidance, not from a laboratory. Local climate, local forage and the state of your particular colony override anything general said here.