For most hobbyists, the flavor of honey your bees harvest depends on the dominant floral sources in their area. During the course of a season, your bees visit many different floral sources. They bring in many different kinds of nectar. The resulting honey, therefore, can properly be classified as wildflower honey, a natural blend of various floral sources.
The beekeeper who is determined to harvest a particular kind of honey (clover, blueberry, apple blossom, sage, tupelo, buckwheat, and so on) needs to locate his or her colony in the midst of acres of this preferred source and must harvest the honey as soon as that desired bloom is over. But doing so is not practical for the backyard beekeeper. Leave it to the professional migratory beekeepers.
My advice? Let the bees do their thing and collect from myriad nectar sources. You’ll not be disappointed in the resulting harvest, because it will be unique to your neighborhood and better than anything you have ever tasted from the supermarket. Guaranteed!
For a lot more information on honey varietals, see Chapter 15.
Knowing When to Start Your Adventure
So when do you start your BIG adventure with your bees? The answer depends on where you live. A good time to start is a few months before the “official” launch of the season (when the flowers come into bloom). A chart in Chapter 9 helps you determine the right calendar of events for your region and climate. Generally speaking, in the United States, the season officially starts in the early spring when the bee breeders in the southern states have package bees ready to sell. Don’t wait until the last minute. Use the “winter” months to order and assemble the equipment that you’ll need and to reserve a package of bees for early-spring delivery. Read up on bees and beekeeping, and become familiar with your equipment. Join a bee club and attend its meetings. That’s a great way to get to know more about beekeeping and meet new friends. Many clubs have special early spring programs for new beekeepers (called “newbees”) and hands-on weekend workshops that show you how it’s done. Latch on to a mentor whom you can call on to answer questions and help you get started.
Install your bees in the early spring. Spring varies from area to area, but you’re trying to time your start date to coincide with the first early-season blossoms, and just a few weeks prior to the fruit bloom. Don’t wait until later. Starting a hive in summer won’t give your colony a chance to grow strong for its first winter.
Be sure to have everything assembled and ready to go before the arrival of your bees. As for what kind of hives and equipment you need to get for this new adventure, I cover that in Chapters 4 and 5.
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