The summer heat and humidity is here, along with some rain-free days here and there. Many areas of Pennsylvania are experiencing a nectar and even a pollen dearth (lack of incoming resources). This can be very localized, and some areas may now be seeing spotted lanternfly honey coming in, which causes the bees to draw wax and suddenly store dark honey. You can identify it by the taste (some like it, others do not, but it will have a distinct smokey, earthy, maybe bacon or maple-like flavor, often with an aftertaste).
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Watch for small hive beetles. If your area has small hive beetles, they should now be showing up. Once you start seeing them, the easiest thing to do is install oil traps in the upper edges of your hive. Fill them 1/3 of the way full with "baited" oil (can be made at home or purchased). Be careful to not store full or wet honey supers if you have small hive beetles. When "pulling" your honey, you should extract it within 3 days, otherwise the beetle eggs can hatch and the larvae can ruin your honey.
- If you manage your colonies for varroa mites, this tool may be helpful right now: https://honeybeehealthcoalition.org/varroatool/
- Our local PA queens are still available for a couple of weeks, into early August.
- We have fresh (immediately frozen) spring bee pollen in stock now. We don't expect to have as much later in the season as other years (again a limited amount this year because of the weather).
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Spring honey is available in both early spring variety (lighter with some locust) and later spring variety (medium color, with tulip poplar, somewhat fruity flavor). We have flavored creamed honey, hot honey, and espresso honey available.
- The final wax dipping day for 2025 will be in early September (based on weather).
- Here are our current prices for supplies: https://walnutfarmbees.com/pages/current-pricelist
