The Best Time for your Hive to Make Honey
Activity: Brainstorming
Think about how you can manage your hive to make sure it makes plenty of honey. Be ready to add your answers to the list your teacher makes on the board.
Changes in the seasons in the Solomon Islands are sometimes hard to see. Rainy season and dry season are not always when you expect. Many trees and flowers have seasons when they bloom, and other times when they do not have flowers. These seasons are not the same for every place, and you will need to learn the seasons in your area to be a good beekeeper.
Some beekeepers in the Solomon Islands say that their bees make a lot of honey from October to January, and that this is the best time for honey production. Some beekeepers say that May, June, and July is also sometimes a good time for honey.
Preknowledge: Interesting Facts
Because a worker bee only makes one teaspoon of honey in its lifetime, you need many worker bees in your hive to make extra honey to harvest.
Your beehive should make plenty of honey:
- When there are many flowers and trees in bloom, and producing nectar.
- When the weather is dry and sunny.
- When your hive is strong with many worker bees and a young queen.
- When there is room in your hive to put the honey.
As a beekeeper you can’t do very much about the weather or the seasons or when the flowers bloom, but you can make sure that your bees are strong and have lots of room when the honey flow does come.