bee-keeperBees are exactly as strong as the forage around them. Honey comes from nectar and colony build-up from pollen — and both depend on the plants within your bees’ flight range (roughly a 3 km radius). A beekeeper who knows the forage on their ground knows when to expand the colony, when to add a super, and when to feed. Here is what the beekeeping year looks like from the plants’ point of view.
Nectar and pollen — two different things
Nectar is the sweet juice of flowers that bees turn into honey — it is the colony’s energy and the raw material for your yield. Pollen is protein food, essential for raising brood; without enough pollen the queen slows her laying. Some plants give plenty of nectar, others mostly pollen, and the most valuable give both. Through the season you need a mix, not just one big flow.
Early spring — the forage that drives build-up
The first plants are not a big honey flow, but they are crucial because they kick-start spring brood rearing:
- Hazel and alder — give the first pollen very early
- Willow — an excellent early source of both nectar and pollen
- Dandelion — a strong boost for colony build-up
- Fruit trees (plum, cherry, apple, apricot) — abundant pollen and nectar during orchard bloom
The main honey flows
These are the flows you harvest honey from, and the ones you plan the whole season around:
- Acacia (black locust) — the most prized flow in our region; it gives a pale, mild honey, but blooms briefly (often only 7–10 days) and is sensitive to the weather
- Linden (lime) — a strong, fragrant flow in early summer, giving a distinctive honey
- Oilseed rape — an early, abundant flow, but the honey crystallises fast so harvest it in time
- Sunflower — a big summer flow on the plains; the honey crystallises quickly
- Meadow and woodland flowers — varied, giving the prized polyfloral "meadow" honey
Late forage and honeydew
In late summer and autumn the forage thins out, but there are valuable sources. Phacelia and buckwheat are sometimes sown specifically for bees and extend the forage. Honeydew is not a flower forage — bees collect it from leaves when sugary secretions sit on them; it gives a darker honey, but that honey is not suitable for winter stores because it burdens the bees’ gut. Late forage matters because it fills the stores before winter and keeps brood going.
Plant something for the bees
If you have land, you can improve the forage yourself. Phacelia, buckwheat, clover, sage, lavender, sunflower, and assorted wild melliferous flowers all feed bees, and even a few in the garden make a difference for pollinators generally. Avoid mowing weeds in bloom during the day while bees are flying, and never treat flowering plants with insecticides.
Water is part of the forage
Bees need water as much as nectar — to cool the hive and to dilute food. If there is no natural source nearby, set up a waterer with floating boards or pebbles so the bees do not drown. Better that your bees drink at your place than in the neighbour’s pool.
Track your forage year on year
Bloom dates repeat, but each year they shift with the weather. If you record when each plant flowered and how the colony responded, within a couple of seasons you build your own "forage calendar" for your ground — invaluable for planning. In the bee-keeper app you record observations and dates against each hive and apiary, so the picture of your forage builds itself over the years.