Advice wanted for heather

[deemann1]

Hi
I have managed to get a site to put some colonies for heather, could you guys please explain your process for getting colonies right for the heather,

 

[Beefriendly]

Only take your strongest hives.
By strong I'm referring to double brood National hives rammed with bees.
I like to compact the brood nest into one brood box just before moving and make up the extra space with empty supers. Some say this is a waste of time, but for me it makes moving hives on my own much easier. It's bringing them back with 3 or 4 supers rammed with honey that causes me more problems LOL...but a nice one to have.
Gathering heather nectar is hard work for the bees and a lot of your work force die early gathering the nectar. They have to break through a lot of spiders cobwebs before they can get to the florets.

Quite excited myself as I have been offered a new site on the moors near me. Looks like virgin territory with no other beekeepers nearby...
Going to see it with the estate manager on Monday.

 

[BMH]

Only take your strongest hives.
By strong I'm referring to double brood National hives rammed with bees.
I like to compact the brood nest into one brood box just before moving and make up the extra space with empty supers. Some say this is a waste of time, but for me it makes moving hives on my own much easier. It's bringing them back with 3 or 4 supers rammed with honey that causes me more problems LOL...but a nice one to have.
Gathering heather nectar is hard work for the bees and a lot of your work force die early gathering the nectar. They have to break through a lot of spiders cobwebs before they can get to the florets.

Quite excited myself as I have been offered a new site on the moors near me. Looks like virgin territory with no other beekeepers nearby...
Going to see it with the estate manager on Monday.

This is interesting.

Do you add the second brood box after the heather and then feed them back up or then overwinter on a single brood box?

My preference is to overwinter on double brood

 

[Beefriendly]

Like anything beekeeping...depends...
Mainly on size of returning colony some go to double/no supers. Some stay as single with super nadired.
To be honest not sure it makes much difference which way you do it.
One of the problems you can get is the queens stop laying on the moors as the nests get back-filled with nectar if/when the weather stays good and you need to provide fresh empty drawn comb for when she returns mid-September so she can lay in the winter bees. Not all but some.

 

[BMH]

Its a real balancing act isnt it.

Ive done well (enough) on the heather when they remained on double brood.

They back filled some of the brood nest but the brood area remained large right through until September/Oct. They were subsequently far more advanced come April than my colonies that went to the heather on a single brood box - which resulted in a bigger spring crop/higher possibility of swarming in Spring.

 

[Poly Hive]

You want to be on the moor for the 3d week in July, no later. Forget the rubbish about the 12 of August, hit that and miss the crop. One year all the talk at the honey show was of no heather. I had a ton!. they went on the 12th and missed it, I was there for the 21st or so and caught it.

Bracken denotes shelter. And it goes without saying a burnt moor is better.

PH

 

[Millet]

You want to be on the moor for the 3d week in July, no later. Forget the rubbish about the 12 of August, hit that and miss the crop. One year all the talk at the honey show was of no heather. I had a ton!. they went on the 12th and missed it, I was there for the 21st or so and caught it.

Bracken denotes shelter. And it goes without saying a burnt moor is better.

PH

Like birds laying eggs does Heather flower and finish at the same time through out the UK..

 

[BMH]

You want to be on the moor for the 3d week in July, no later. Forget the rubbish about the 12 of August, hit that and miss the crop. One year all the talk at the honey show was of no heather. I had a ton!. they went on the 12th and missed it, I was there for the 21st or so and caught it.

Bracken denotes shelter. And it goes without saying a burnt moor is better.

PH

Good advice that is.

Im moving some up this weekend. 15th July for me is the ideal time.

Luckily where I place mine for heather, on the border of the moor, there is plenty of forage so a week or two early isnt an issue

 

[SWEET]

Out of interest, how long are you leaving hives out on the heather?

3-4 days (short break in a B&B) too little time?

Sounds fun.

 

[Beefriendly]

Luckily where I place mine for heather, on the border of the moor, there is plenty of forage so a week or two early isnt an issue

You'll be selling "moorland" honey not heather. You need to give them no choice. Or be damn sure your heather pollen contents in the honey is well over 50% in the final product to qualify for a mono floral honey.
Bees don't like working heather and will take anything else in preference...unless, of course, it's the only game for miles around. My garden bees won't fly 1/2 mile to acres of the stuff as better forage nearby.

 

[Beefriendly]

You want to be on the moor for the 3d week in July,

Depends where you are geographically, not a calendar date.....and whether you are after Bell or Ling heather honey. Bell has been out for ages but not many moors support enough Bell for it to viable to try and harvest (as I've found to my cost in the past).
Where we are (North Yorks moors western edge) Ling is at least 2 weeks away....
12th August (never heard that one before?) is usually only good for a super or two. {I move some hives up to the moors after the borage finishes ..sometimes s it works well, sometimes it doesn't....depends on year and time of main flow. Last year (where we are) It stopped abruptly on 2nd week in august. We got nowt from the borage moved hives.

 

[deemann1]

Only take your strongest hives.
By strong I'm referring to double brood National hives rammed with bees.
I like to compact the brood nest into one brood box just before moving and make up the extra space with empty supers. Some say this is a waste of time, but for me it makes moving hives on my own much easier. It's bringing them back with 3 or 4 supers rammed with honey that causes me more problems LOL...but a nice one to have.
Gathering heather nectar is hard work for the bees and a lot of your work force die early gathering the nectar. They have to break through a lot of spiders cobwebs before they can get to the florets.

Quite excited myself as I have been offered a new site on the moors near me. Looks like virgin territory with no other beekeepers nearby...
Going to see it with the estate manager on Monday.

Thanks for that
Do you get much swarming problems with the bb that packed with brood frames and congestion??

 

[BMH]

To be honest, whilst I've not got a loosener I am happy for them to go for the fireweed and bramble in preference over the heather.

It will make my life easier come extraction.

However, they definitely go for it come August where I am. You can smell it. Well see if the mix spins out ok.

I'm not overly fussed about what its called. If it spins out, it's being sold as honey in a 30lb bucket. Its a good point though. Dont want to get told off by trading standards.

I have to say, I personally much prefer the moorland mix, over pure heather. Just a bit too strong for me.



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[BMH]

Out of interest, how long are you leaving hives out of the heather for?



3-4 days (short break in a B&B) too little time?



Sounds fun.

Er yes.

4-6 weeks

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[SWEET]

Er yes.

4-6 weeks

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Brilliant thanks; just curious as supers filled in that time from rape this spring.

Another reason i can use to purchase a wood near Dartmoor then

 

[Ian123]

Thanks for that
Do you get much swarming problems with the bb that packed with brood frames and congestion??

You never say never when bees are involved however you will find that they are in winter prep mode and the swarm switch is off.