In addition to supplemental feeding our hives with bee syrup during the winter months, we’ve added dry pollen feeders to our apiary (see above photo). Why separate pollen feeders? The alternative would be to risk getting the bees too cold by opening the hives to add pollen patties. As the afternoon temperatures rise into the
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In order to create great Texas wildflower honey, our bees need plenty of sources of pollen and nectar. That’s why we spend time planting wildflowers (both perennials and annuals). Now when you think of flowers, chances are springtime comes to mind. And that’s when most people try to get their seeds. Yet that’s way too
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Snow on the Prairie did the heavy lifting for providing our bees with pollen and nectar in August and September. As noted before, it’s a throat irritant so we encourage the bees to stockpile it for winter but don’t harvest the honey for human consumption. Now that the Snow on the Prairie is fading away,
As we head into fall in Texas, there are a few things still blooming that our honey bees like. One of these is Wild Blue Sage. Frankly, it’s a little surprising to see it at our ranch because it isn’t ideally suited to the soil here. However, there are nearby prairie grasslands where it’s likely
Snow on the Prairie is a mixed blessing when it comes to honey bees. On the bright side, those white blooms in August signal a break from the Texas summer dearth when there are few wildflowers for the bees. So, it makes the bees happy and lets us cut back on supplemental feeding. However, on
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There comes a point during the Texas summer (typically July), where there’s a scarcity (dearth) of wildflowers for the honey bees to use as pollinators. During this period, our Hokkaido Ranch beekeepers supplemental feed the bees. With honey harvested from the supers as the dearth begins, it’s important to make sure the bees don’t go
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When the initial 16 nuc colonies of Golden Cordovan honey bees arrived at Hokkaido Ranch in April, we knew it would be a while before we could harvest honey for resale. Because you want your beehives to grow strong, it typically takes a year to build them up. However, the wet spring with lots of
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One of the biggest changes to the way we run the ranch to produce Texas pure wildflower honey is to leave Sneezeweed and other pollinator plants in the pasture that we’d otherwise mow. Because Sneezeweed is a big hit with both our honey bees and butterflies. Depending on the variety, Sneezeweed can bloom as early
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We supplemented existing wildflowers with 11 different bee-friendly wildflowers on 20 acres of our ranch near the apiary. Because we wanted our honey bees and other pollinators to have more options for many months of the year. This photo shows some of the Indian Blanket that we seeded. The seeding was a learning process based
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