The Nectar Flow

• #1- Knowing when your Nectar Flow(s) begin and end.

• #2- Preparing your beehives for the Nectar Flow.

Now let’s get to the core details for each point!

In order to prepare for the nectar flow, you need to know when it begins in your area. The knowledge of the beginning and ending of a nectar flow is one of THE KEY pieces of information it takes to be a successful beekeeper; even if you have no intention of harvesting honey!

Honey bees do not make SURPLUS honey year-round. They do bring in nectar for a good part of the beekeeping season but it’s only 2-3 times a year (depending on your location) that they will make a surplus amount of honey. 

Beekeepers can only, and should only, harvest honey once the bees have made a surplus; meaning that they have more than they will use. This is one way of how we can practice maintaining a Sustainable beekeeping operation.

Here is the #1 book that I recommend to every one of my students and YouTube followers in order to learn WHAT blooms and WHEN it blooms in your area. It will teach you the Minor and Major sources of nectar in your location and it’s the Major sources of nectar that provide a nectar flow.

Here’s a link to American Honey Plants by Frank C. Pellett. Now let’s look at two examples from my area before I tell you how to prepare for the Nectar Flow in the second part of this article.

Example 101:

• My first area nectar flow of the year begins in late April and then gets stronger about the second to third week of May, slowly tapering off during the last week of May.

• This creates a harvest time in the beginning of June.

• This nectar flow is offered by several Major nectar sources that vary from year to year in bloom-overlap: The primary source is from Tulip Poplar, then Choke and Black Cherry trees, and then Blackberry.

• This is what constitutes as Wildflower honey in my area.

• It is absolutely THE BEST Wildflower I have ever tasted, and I’ve tasted 10’s of honey varieties 😉.

Example 102:

• The second area nectar flow is primarily from Sourwood trees, producing the highly-sought after Sourwood Honey.

• These trees begin blooming around the second week of June and taper off near the last week of July.

• This creates a harvest time at the beginning of August.

Here’s one of my YouTube videos covering the book that helps you understand your area: Two must-have Beekeeping Books. (fast forward video to 4:58)

Point #2- Preparing your Beehives for the Nectar Flow.

Knowing WHEN your nectar flow begins means that you can prepare yourself, your equipment and your colonies AHEAD OF TIME so that you take full advantage of the flow. Here are a few points to understand about the nectar flow:

• A colony can bring in several pounds of nectar in one day so they need lots of room to store the incoming nectar. Otherwise, they may swarm, taking half your honey and bees with them!

• It’s YOUR job to give them enough room by using honey supers on top of the brood chamber.

• You will want to put your honey supers on for the honey flow before it hits strong. Meaning that a week before the major source of nectar begins to bloom, you want to super your colonies.

• Not every major source of nectar blooms at the same time. Here’s what I mean: Using Sourwood trees for our example, a few sourwoods begin to bloom here and there for about a week, up to a week and a half. Then a LOT of them begin to bloom, overlapping in abundance of bloom AND nectar for about two to three weeks before tapering off with a few blooming at the end, just as it began.

• During a flow, a colony can draw out comb on bare plastic inserts and beeswax foundation CRAZY fast!

• And lastly, you will generally have MORE foragers near the middle to end of a nectar flow than at the beginning. This means that the majority of the honey will come in and be made nearer the end of the flow which is why beekeepers harvest a week or two after the flow is over. Another reason is so that the honey can ripen which is when the bees have lowered the moisture content of nectar down between 15-18%. Then it’s nice thick honey!

Here’s what you need for equipment:

• At least two honey supers per strong colony. Some areas may even need four or five!

• Of course each super must be filled with frames.

• Ideally and highly recommended is that you use queen excluders to prevent the queen from laying eggs in the honey supers. Maintain the queen in either one or two brood boxes, place an excluder on top of those, then stack your honey supers on top with the cover over those.

• Using a queen excluder will save you SO much work later by being able to pull off boxes of honey without having to have brood in the middle of them.

Fun Fact: Did you know that some varieties of honey are worth more money than others?

Here’s my YouTube video that helps show/explain, How to set up for the Honey/Nectar Flow!

Thanks for reading all the way to the bottom 😉. I want to hear from you!