Thanks Les, for the link. It was a nicely done presentation of the question. However, even though Mr. VinoFarm thinks that the summer dearth might be a local issue only for him, from my experience and from what I've read, it's pretty much a universal situation. Very few beekeepers are blessed with a continued long lasting honey flow throughout the active season of the bees. Most of us have at least one dearth period and I'm pretty sure that many of us have even more than one during the months when bees could potentially produce honey. Some beekeepers deal with this situation by feeding with syrup during dearths, thereby keeping the hives strong till the nectar starts flowing again. That, of course, presents its own problems, chief among them, the question of producing and extracting (intentionally or not) "honey" from the syrup.
I'll open a new string with the question as to summer dearths. Those who would like to report on their situation are welcome to make their contributions.
