Spring has really jumped into full gear VERY quickly this year! We’re probably running 2 weeks ahead of what’s been about average for the last few years. The bees have been working hard filling frames with nectar from honeysuckle and black locust mostly, but with everything blooming all at once, it’s probably a pretty wide mixture of nectars. Because this spring has been so odd, most of my honey boxes on the hives look like this – full of nectar, but nothing capped off as honey. Beekeepers can do the “shake test” which is when we shake a frame with the cells facing down to see if anything falls out. If liquid drops out, it’s still too wet to be honey. If nothing drops out, it may be cured down to about 16-18% moisture which is what we want to see for honey. I can double check using a refractometer to be absolutely sure it’s cured down to honey before pulling it off the hive which is what I’ll be doing next week since these bees don’t seem to want to cap off anything! And this isn’t at just one apiary location either – all of them seem to be doing the same thing this spring. My best guess is that the nectar is coming in so fast, they’re focusing energy on evaporating out the water and aren’t bothering to cap it off yet since humidity has been relatively low and it’s not necessary just yet. Every season is always so different than the others!
Coming up, I’ll be returning to markets at the end of May starting with the Eagleview Farmers Market on May 28th from 3-6pm. A full schedule is available here. I’ve missed being at markets all winter long, so it’ll be great to be back! Hope to see you there!