Bee forage: what bees collect through the year and why honey differs from year to year
What bees collect through the year, how the forage in Podravina runs from willow to sweet chestnut, and why honey differs from one year to the next.
By AndrejaPublished 4 min read
When people ask why our acacia honey is different this year from last, the answer is always the same: bees work with whatever nature offers them. This article describes what bees collect, what a bee year looks like in Podravina and why every honey is a witness to one particular season.
What bee forage is
Forage is everything bees collect outside the hive:
- nectar from flowers, which they turn into honey,
- pollen, food for the brood, which they store as perga (bee bread),
- resin from tree buds, which becomes propolis,
- honeydew, the sweet liquid that aphids excrete on leaves, which becomes honeydew honey,
- water.
Bees forage within roughly one to three kilometres of the hive. That is why the beekeeper’s most important decision is where the hives will stand. Ours stand in Sokolovac, at the edge of the woods, between the meadows, acacia groves and sweet chestnut woods of the Kalnik hills.
The bee year in Podravina
This is an approximate calendar; it shifts every year depending on the weather.
March — willow, hazel, cornelian cherry. The first pollen and a little nectar. The colony wakes up and the queen starts laying eggs. There is no honey to extract; everything goes to the brood.
April — fruit trees, dandelion, oilseed rape. The first serious forage. Orchards and meadows full of dandelions provide pollen in every colour. Oilseed rape, where there is any, gives a pale honey that crystallises quickly.
May — acacia (black locust). The main flow in Podravina. Acacia flowers for ten to fifteen days, and in a good year the bees make more honey in that period than in the whole of the rest of the season. Rain, cold or frost in those days can ruin the harvest. That is why in some years there is no acacia honey at all.
June — linden, meadows, blackberry. Linden flowers briefly and intensely; the meadows are in full bloom. Linden and meadow honey come from this period.
July — sweet chestnut. Sweet chestnut flowers in July and gives a dark, bitter honey. In the Kalnik hills there is enough chestnut for a pure chestnut flow in a good year.
August and September — poor forage. Sunflower where there is any, goldenrod, honeydew in the woods. The bees mostly top up their own stores for winter; the beekeeper extracts little or nothing.
October to February — dormancy. The bees gather into a winter cluster and live off their stores. The beekeeper does not open the hives.
Why honey is not the same every year
The beekeeper chooses where the hives stand and when to extract. Everything else is decided by the weather:
- A rainy spring washes the nectar out of the flowers and keeps the bees in the hive.
- A late frost destroys the acacia or fruit blossom.
- A dry summer gives less nectar, but a more concentrated, darker honey.
- A warm autumn extends the forage and changes the composition of the autumn honey.
That is why a difference in colour and taste between two years of the same honey is a good sign. Honey that is exactly the same every year has probably been blended and standardised.
What this means for the customer
- In some years there is no acacia honey, or very little; when there is, it is worth getting.
- Chestnut honey varies in bitterness depending on the summer.
- Meadow and wildflower honey change colour and aroma depending on what dominated the meadows that year.
- Spring perga is more colourful, summer perga more uniform.
We described the honey varieties and their characteristics in our guide to types of honey.
What the beekeeper does through the year
In short: in spring, following the development of the brood and adding space; in season, extracting after each main flow; in summer, harvesting perga and collecting propolis; in late summer, leaving the bees enough stores for winter; and in winter, repairing equipment and waiting. If you would like to see it for yourself, come to the oasis.
Conclusion
Bee forage is nature’s calendar: willow, fruit trees, acacia, linden, sweet chestnut, then dormancy. Every year writes a different honey, and the beekeeper only chooses where the hives stand and when to extract. What is in the jar, from acacia to chestnut honey, is a record of one particular season in Sokolovac.
Questions and answers
What is bee forage?
Bee forage is everything bees collect in nature: nectar for honey, pollen to feed the brood and resin for propolis. It depends on the plants within range of the hive, usually up to three kilometres, and on when they flower.
When do bees collect honey?
Bees collect nectar from the first warm days in March until early autumn, and they make most of their honey during the main flows: acacia in May, linden in June and sweet chestnut in July. In late summer and autumn the forage is poor and the bees mostly top up their own stores.
Why is honey not the same every year?
Honey differs from year to year because flowering depends on the weather: rain or frost during the acacia bloom can halve the harvest, while a dry summer gives a stronger chestnut honey. The beekeeper cannot influence this, so a difference in colour and taste between two years is a sign of real honey.
How far do bees fly to forage?
Bees usually forage within one to three kilometres of the hive, and further when forage is scarce. That is why the surroundings of the apiary, the woods, meadows and crops within that radius, determine what kind of honey is made.