A sensible number of hives for beginners next year

[frankenstine]

we are currently in out first season of bee keeping we have currenly 1 managed colony in a hive and some wild ones 1 in garage roof been there aproxamatly 10 yrs and seems very strong swarms several times a year and is very busy, and i think another 2 as i was getting headbumped by some determined bees a lot when cutting back scrub in a couple of places.

we would like to increase our number of hives next year a lot we have read says its really helpfull to have a few for compareing them and gives the option transferign frames / bees between them if you you need to for whatever reason. i would hope to be abel to collect swarms from the wild colonys we have here as they seem to be good bees. so what would be a sensible maximum number of hives to aim for for 2 people in 2nd season going from hive, so i can get things prepared well in adavance of spring ? if it dosent go to plan just keep the kit for another year

 

[Murox]

I would suggest that two hives should always be the minimum. If one fails you have a back up. I think your question is a "how long is a piece of string" type and depends a lot on your circumstances, your abilities/knowledge and apiary location. Assuming you are running a vertical hive(s) of some sort, an appropriate spare nuc and brood box per hive would be helpful.

 

[Curly green finger's]

I would suggest that two hives should always be the minimum. If one fails you have a back up. I think your question is a "how long is a piece of string" type and depends a lot on your circumstances, your abilities/knowledge and apiary location. Assuming you are running a vertical hive(s) of some sort, an appropriate spare nuc and brood box per hive would be helpful.

I agree, two would be best to start with.. But as Murox said how long is a piece of string, it all depends what you want to achieve??

 

[ericbeaumont]

what would be a sensible maximum number of hives to aim for for 2 people in 2nd season so i can get things prepared well in adavance of spring ? if it dosent go to plan just keep the kit for another year

Two.

If your current hive is vertical with perhaps one brood box and a couple of supers, then double that number for next year, and buy another set for your second colony. You'll need several nuc boxes; I reckon this design is the best and most useful. Buy and make frames in the winter (Maisemore 2nds are good) and fit foundation in early spring.

The fun begins when beekeeping doesn't go to plan.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Two.

If your current hive is vertical with perhaps one brood box and a couple of supers, then double that number for next year, and buy another set for your second colony. You'll need several nuc boxes; I reckon this design is the best and most useful. Buy and make frames in the winter (Maisemore 2nds are good) and fit foundation in early spring.

The fun begins when beekeeping doesn't go to plan.

And when it does go to plan, you could shout from the roof tops!
Not that many people would hear me up here.

 

[Somerford]

two - but learn to manage them to ensure they don't swarm.

easier said than done - so many things to look for....but you only get big honey crops from big colonies and that means you need to stop or prevent swarming from occurring else you'll just have lots of splits and little to show for your efforts

 

[user 819]

Two - four maybe if you think between the two of you it is possible, swarming needs to be dealt with so either clipped queens to try and prevent losses or splitting when cells are developed.
Set up a couple of bait hives in March to try and capture any from the garage, ideally use drawn comb or two in the bait hive as an attraction or maybe lemon grass oil as some have used.

 

[frankenstine]

i'm going to sound cocky here but i recon the garage swarms will be easy to catch they allways seem to land in one of 3 places, a bush on garden wall, opposite the backdoor in a small tree or rose bush right by the back door and about 5 times a year my plan so far for catching them is to make some bait hives il probally just rattel them up out of OSB and put a couple of old frames in them if i leave them where i know swarms from the garage like to land i recon and hope i'll be lucky.

at the moment i'm not actully worried about honey. if i can keep bees alive over winter and healthy and build a strong healthy collony that dont mind me doing things to the hive, i'll be happy. honey i think is something to do later on buying extarctors and such while not an issue i think would only end up getting the wrong ones and only get over keen to take honey off and cause myself problems.

 

[frankenstine]

Few pictures of where we’ve got them at the moment

 

[user 819]

Yes the three sites they choose sounds like they are the choice spots for a bait hive, pheromones present in each of the sites or maybe you haven't tried RP's trick for checking lay lines.

 

[drdrday]

You'll probably find you don't need to make an effort to catch any swarms. I started this year with one colony (that I got in April last year) and now have two in double brood hives (after an AS) and also a nuc (headed up by a supersedure queen who probably lost her way back home from a mating flight). The chances are your one colony will want to swarm next year and so will quickly become two anyway.

You definitely need to be prepared with enough equipment for next year though. Each hive you have (or plan to have next year) will need enough kit not only to house them normally, but also to allow you to do an artificial swarm if necessary - so either another brood box or a nuc box depending what method you plan to use.

In my second year I'm finding two full size hives and the nuc manageable, although I don't think I'd have wanted more than that just now. It's only me though, so with two of you I guess you can split the work. My third year is probably going to be all about trying NOT to increase my colony numbers, especially if each colony wants to triple each year like they have this year!

 

[Firefly]

Do you know if your garage colony has been in absolutely continuous occupation for 10 years? There are lots of people who say that wild / feral colonies cannot survive for more than 2 or 3 years without succumbing to Varroa/virus, and that apparently long-lived wild colonies are really just constant re-occupation of the same site. If you don't think that's the case with yours, you clearly have a good source of robust stock (can I have a swarm )

 

[frankenstine]

I’ve not read anything anywhere about lay lines tbh there the kind of thing I find hard to put any meaning to but I’ll point The gf at it tho as she get quite into that sort of thing at times.

we are still trying to decide on numbers 4 seems to be a good Number to aim at with ideal to have a nominal 2 each.

the garage colony we are Pritty sure it’s continuous as It right above the patio and washing line and it’s been one of them things to have a quick look up and see if there busy or not and Even through winter On warm day there is allways a lot of activity. We’ve never noticed there not been bees there.

 

[drex]

I always have a sensible number of hives in my head, but the bees never comply with it. I usually only arrive at the sensible number after pre winter preps when I have united colonies, then I might lose the odd colony over winter, and so I make my plans again.

 

[frankenstine]

well people keep telling me I should plan things ect ect. So I do try. Tho I know full well no plan I have ever made has ever worked as it should... or worked out anything like expected

 

[linoleum bonypart]

It would be sensible going into winter with two....

 

[Firefly]

well people keep telling me I should plan things ect ect. So I do try. Tho I know full well no plan I have ever made has ever worked as it should... or worked out anything like expected

Never a truer word. Beekeeping, business, life...