After lime bloom comes a gap. Sometimes short, sometimes long. A beekeeper who does not watch weight only finds out at the next visit, when stores are already disappearing quickly or when it is too late.
What summer looks like in Orava
The spring season in Orava peaks around mid-May. Then lime bloom comes at the end of June, a short but abundant nectar flow. In between there are raspberries and meadow flowers. But if the year has good humidity, there is honeydew. If not, there is stagnation or decline.
In 2019, summer was exceptional. After a spring with a break in May, cooling and frost-damaged fruit trees, there came a strong June, lime bloom, with +45 kg in 25 days. And in mid-July honeydew, another +15 kg. There was no summer dearth that year.
In 2020, summer was different. After the lime flow, stagnation began on 7 July. By 23 July, the weight had fallen by about 8 kg, around 500 g per day. Then a few days of stabilization. And from August, feeding.
How to recognize dearth in the graph
Summer dearth appears in the graph as a slow even decline. Not dramatic, not sudden, just a curve that moves slightly downward day by day. Stores are being consumed faster than they are coming in.
The key difference from winter decline is context. In winter, decline is normal and expected. In July or August, decline is a signal, either nectar flow has ended or something is wrong.
How fast stores disappear depends on colony strength. A larger colony consumes more. 500 g per day is common for a strong colony. If the decline speeds up to a kilogram or more per day outside nectar flow, a check is necessary.
Robbing looks completely different
Summer dearth increases the risk of robbing. Strong colonies attack weaker ones and steal stores. In the graph and physically, robbing looks completely different from ordinary dearth.
Dearth is a slow decline over days and weeks. Robbing is a sharp drop over hours, several kilograms at once. Physically at the apiary it looks like chaos, increased activity at the entrance, fighting at the entrance, similar to swarming.
Reaction: reduce the entrance immediately. You give the weaker colony a chance to defend itself. A strong colony will not stop robbing on its own. You must prevent access.
How extraction shows in the graph
Extraction appears in the graph as a sharp drop with an immediate return to a new, lower baseline. Not gradual loss, but a step downward.
In 2019: on 7 July, 45 kg extracted, 92.7 kg remaining. On 6 August, another 15 kg, 84 kg remaining. The graph shows two sharp drops, each clearly different from dearth or robbing.
In 2020: on 7 June, 11 kg extracted, 113 kg remaining, and on 7 July another 23 kg, 105 kg remaining. Then summer dearth followed.
When you know what you did and when, the graph confirms it. When you see a sharp drop and cannot explain it, there is a reason to go to the apiary.
What to do during summer dearth
Summer dearth does not always mean a problem. If the bees have enough stores, they can get through it without intervention. The question is when to start feeding.
The scale gives the answer without opening the hive: you watch absolute weight and the speed of decline. If stores are disappearing too fast and nectar flow is not starting, it is time to react, in August, not in September.
In 2020, feeding started on 2 August. After feeding, weight rises in the graph, not smoothly as during nectar flow, but gradually according to how bees take the syrup and evaporate water.