It's August, just a little past the middle of the beekeeper's active season. The girls are doing their absolute best to stock up during a year that started out great but has really reached a plateau in terms of honey production. This summer has seen plenty of rain if you're going strictly by the numbers; problem is, in actuality it's been long periods of dry perforated by quick and violent deluges which probably do more harm than good. Northern Ohio has experienced flooding problems all over the place - though thankfully, no other beekeepers I know have been affected.
Although it's too early to tell how good they are, I will concede that the Minnesota Hygienics I've been trying out this year are doing quite well. They managed to establish and build their colony quickly, and could probably fill at least one super before the end of the season, although they won't get the chance - I have a personal policy against taking any honey off a first-year hive. Once we've seen how well they overwinter, we'll start doing the "scientific" comparisons between them and the Italians.
That's all for now...but stay tuned!
