Well, maybe a bit windy. At least it’s not brutally hot! A welcome relief!
June is a transitional month for Philly beekeepers because swarming stops and our colonies focus on making honey. If we’re lucky any problems our hives had early have been resolved and they’re on the way to a decent crop. Now that we’re in July we start thinking about harvesting. I’m holding off a little this year to see if they can put away a little more. It’s been hot, but we keep getting rain, so I’m hoping that the dearth is as late as the nectar flow was.
This is my best hive so far this year. I harvested 5 supers. I think I will graft this queen next. Things are still pretty lush around here.
Things I must mention…
- Picnic July 14th – we’ve rescheduled the picnic for July 14. That’s also the first day of the Honey Kitchen!
- Honey Kitchen – We’ll have the Honey Kitchen at Awbury open starting July 14 through the end of August. Please go to the Honey Kitchen page to sign up – It’s a different system this year, not using Sign up Genius.
- It is time once again for the PA honey bee colony winter loss survey. So far only 22 PA beekeepers have participated, so we need your help! CLICK HERE AND TAKE THE SURVEY!!!
- Robyn Underwood, Kate Anton, and the Penn State team put on a fantastic Drone workshop that Jeff and I attended.
- Don’t forget the State Beekeepers Picnic on July 20th. It’s at Knoebel’s this year which is a hoot and a half on it’s own, even better with beekeepers. If folks are interested we can organize car pools.