First Day of Fall Flow

Today is the first day "unofficially " of the fall flow. Yesterday these bees were bearding big time, but now they are almost entirely out foraging the new blooms. Cool stuff!

Final Update On Goldenrod Until It Finishes

I am going to say that September 29 is the "official" start to the Goldenrod flow for this year. Yes it has been blooming in spots, and has been very limited at best. But today enough has emerged here on the farm for me to say the flow is officially on! 

These are photos from this morning. You can't really tell without zooming in that there is only about 10% bloom happening. The good news is some of it is two weeks behind those that bloomed today. Based on what I saw this morning, its gonna be a really good fall flow. 

Late Boneset Started Today 2019

Late Boneset started its show of affection towards my favorite pollinator today. This time of year everyone focuses on the goldenrod, but if you have enough bees in your area to cause the goldenrod nectar to dry up early in the day this is the next most abundant resource for them in our 5 acres of the universe. A quick walk around a fence row or clearing today and you will see this nectar spicket everywhere!

Purple False Foxglove Bloom 2019

Hello everybody welcome to the blog. This is what is called purple faults foxglove. It really seems to be a favorite to the bees right now. The bees are working it more than the freshly bloomed Goldenrod. 

By the way, this has not just started to bloom, it has been blooming here for weeks. It also looks like it'll be blooming for weeks to come. I'll keep an eye on it next year and give a better start date. Currently it appears to be the climax of the bloom. 

It was a good morning strolling my property lines taking pics of bee food. I have more pics of other species from this morning that I'll be posting about today as well. 

• Thanks for reading! 

Free Beekeeping Classes in 2020

Image by Pexels from Pixabay

 Just a quick headsup, but in 2020 in the spring we will start doing free beekeeping classes for those who might be interested in getting into beekeeping. This will not be a class that teaches you how to buy beekeeping equipment, but how to build your own simply and cheaply as well as taking care of the bees sensibly and without chemical treatments.
Please leave a comment below or private message us on facebook if this is something that you might be interested in. I will get more details to you later in the winter.

Goldenrod 2019 Update

So on September 22, 2019 I wrote a post about how the Goldenrod had made its first appearance here on the West La Bee Farm, and it did. But now nearly a week later very little has bloomed. There is a ton of it around, and I'm sure the bees are finding spots nearby where it has bloomed, but on our little farm there are still no blooms.
Looking at it today it did appear to be ready to bust open. I even believe that in the morning when I wake up its gonna be like "honey bee black friday"! They are already bringing in nectar from somewhere and there is plenty of activity. Maybe tomorrow I'll make a video of some of the hive activity and post it on here along with a few Goldenrod pics.
Thats all for now!
Hey let me know what is happening with your Goldenrod. Is it still flowing in your area?

What To Look For In 2020!

Doesn't the nighttime temp here in west Louisiana feel great!? Even the daytime temps are getting more bearable. Sadly, it's nearly October and yet we are still in the 90's in the day time. Seems kinda odd to be writing a post about spring time, but that's exactly what I'm doing. 

Although it seems distant, Springtime for a beekeeper will sneak up and catch us off guard if we're not careful. So I'm already thinking about 2020 and what we hope to accomplish on the bee farm. 2020 will be our first official year in business and our production will be very limited as we have much growing yet to do. We have had several people reach out to us about buying honey and pollen. Unfortunately we have had to turn them all down as our focus has been on growing our bee colonies. 2020 is looking like a good time to start selling a little of what the bees make, so the plan is to have small amounts of fresh local hone and pollen sometime around the end of Spring or the middle of July. 

Our primary focus for next year is actually going to be selling bees, queens, and mentoring new beekeepers. Be looking for future posts on this topic if you are interested in getting some free local education about beekeeping. 

That's all for now. Have a great weekend!

Ain't she a beaut?! 

Increase Honey Bee Forage Possibility

Do you think this might work for you? Is it even reasonable?? Leave a comment.

Is Ragweed Useful To Honey Bees

Well here we are smack dab in the middle of allergy season. The picture above is a beautiful example of a fine specimen that is the culprit of your allergies through this time of year. The culprit is none other than Ragweed. And a beautiful ragweed it is in my opinion. No, this post is not about allergies and who or who is not responsible for them, but I always want to mention whenever I have opportunity to do so that ragweed, not goldenrod, is the real problem with your allergies in August, September, and October. Got that covered, now on to the real issue that this post is about.

Year after year it never fails to come up whether in online beekeeping forums, at a local bee club, or just two beekeepers discussing what bees will or will not forage on. The discussion I'm referring to is the one that revolves around the summer dearth and what forage is available from tallow to goldenrod. And I have seen people so galvanized on their observations its as if they think bees are going to follow the same feeding structure in North Louisiana as they do in South Louisiana. Its just not true.

First let me explain that I'm gonna give you my two cents based on my observations in my local area. Your observations may be totally different if you are more than 10 miles away from me. West La Bee Farm is located in Mayo, Louisiana, so you results may vary from mine if you are in Many, Louisiana or Pitkin, Louisiana. 

Here is what I have seen on the little hill the West La Bee Farm occupies. Bloom time on ragweed seems to vary from year to year. I've seen it begin flowering in late July to mid-August. This is what most folks around here call "the dearth". Its called the dearth because in the heat of summer while the sun is highest in the sky there is not much available for bees to forage on in the for of nectar. Bees do not live on nectar alone though. Pollen is also on their menu, but it is mostly for rearing brood. This is why, in my opinion, pollen from ragweed is valuable to your hives in late summer. But wait, this is where people get into big arguments over whether or not bees even forage on ragweed! Well, here in Mayo, Louisiana they most certainly do. In the picture above I was actually attempting to get a picture of a bee grabbing a pollen snack, but she wasn't cooperating. If I can get another chance at it I will be more prepared to get a good pic and post it here later. But just trust me for now that honey bees most certainly forage for ragweed pollen, at least that is the case here on this farm.

I not only have witnessed the bees foraging everyday on ragweed pollen here, but I have also noticed a bit of increase in egg laying by the queen once the ragweed pollen is coming in hot and heavy. I truly believe this is by design. Why do I believe that? It lies in the fact that in the U.S., especially here in Louisiana the goldenrod flow is the last big nectar flow of the year and the bees need to increase the colony numbers before the goldenrod flow is really kicking. What is the main ingredient in building brood? POLLEN! How long does it take for worker bees to go from egg to field bee? About 5 weeks give or take a few days. The ragweed has been blooming here for three weeks or better. We are still 2 weeks from full goldenrod bloom it appears, even though the first blooms here on the farm were spotted 2 days ago. Judging by the looks of the majority of the tall goldenrod it will be blooming for awhile as it is currently in several stages of growth. 

So when you figure up how long the ragweed has been blooming, its correlation to the build-up of brood, and when full goldenrod bloom will take place, you can't help but see that there is a rhythm to it all. 

Here is my observation in a nutshell. Ragweed blooms first in July or August. You might can figure out when the goldenrod is going to bloom based on when the ragweed blooms (will be watching for this in years to come). I'm thinking 5-6 weeks later for full bloom (Ragweed blooms continue during the goldenrod bloom). Bees prepare for the goldenrod nectar flow by building up colony population using the ragweed pollen since it is the most abundant during this time. 

Final synopsis:     HONEY BEES DO INDEED FORAGE RAGWEED POLLEN

I want you to keep in mind that if you live in an area where you never see bees gathering from the ragweed it is because in your area you have something growing there that they prefer over the ragweed. Bees are not inherently lazy. If there is something to work on, they will work on it. However, they will only work the things that are the most nutritious for their needs. That what bees do.

Hey, leave a comment below if you enjoyed this post or have any suggestions or questions. Thanks for stopping by!

Goldenrod Blooms On The Bee Farm 2019

 Hello and welcome to West Louisiana Bee Farm's blog. Thank you for stopping by. You never know what bee-related stuff I may put up here. Some of it will be interesting to other beekeepers, but much of it will be info that I may need to save here like a journal of sorts for my reference. Which brings me to the purpose of this first blog post. THE GOLDENROD IS BLOOMING!!

As of this morning, September 22, 2019 the goldenrod is officially in bloom here on the farm. I have been anxiously watching it everyday for weeks now trying to time its arrival, and now it is here! Why is this such a big deal to me? Well, this is the last big chance for the bees to get easy nectar. The goldenrod flow is the official/unofficial name for this season, and it is what the bees use to build their stores back up for the cold months of winter when food is scarce for them and temperatures keep them in the hive so that they can keep the queen warm and fed. 

Why is it considered "easy nectar"? It is because of goldenrod's abundance. In this part of the country it is literally everywhere. It grows along fence rows, vacant lots, highway and dirt road right-of-ways, along creek and river banks, in your flowerbed that you neglected this year, you name it. Goldenrod comes up EVERYWHERE if you let it. Therefore I call it easy nectar. 

So if you have goldenrod growing on your property and you are tempted to cut it down, please leave it for the bees until the blooms die. They need it for their winter stores. Then, when the blooms turn brown, cut it down. They will be grateful.

Well, that's all for now. Here some flowers I picked for my wife while out looking around to see what my bees may be foraging on. There is actually quite a bit of wildflowers in bloom already. 

Stay tuned, more to come later!

Please drop a comment below!