Heather 2021

[Curly green finger's]

Why do you need proof?

Just sounds unbelievable on heather that would be 5 supers more even??

 

[Into the lions den]

Just sounds unbelievable on heather that would be 5 supers more even??

Yes..more. We work on BS supers (we use them less and less) extracting out at 10kg..so 22lb on a stack of full ones...so pushing up towards 9 or 10.

However it DOES happen from time to time on exceptional colonies. So I have no reason to say it will not be the case. Had a visit to our heather last year by Jim Lowther who posted some pics and videos online....some colonies can do massively well on the moors if they hit it right.

Biggest colony this year is sitting in Aberdeenshire at 8 Lang deeps tall. At last check the top box had remained empty...and not sure what is present down the hive but might be 5 full? At that height it is a challenge getting the rocks on. However all our really big colonies on the hjills are the product of a vertical requeening system...make the split in the swarming season above a flight board..then leave the old queen laying away in the bottom, get the new queen laying in the top, and reunite on the hill...so its not really the same as a simple single queen system.

Would not have any colonies that are singles with anything close to 200lb on the heather alone this season some may have done so over the whole year.

Feel kind of inadequate (lol) against a bee farming friend, whose figures I DO trust who has a couple of apiaries with averages around 170kg..and one at 180kg...this year...AVERAGES!. thats 15 to 18 supers..per hive. No idea how many times they were stripped over that period..cannot imagine a stack like that..would not be safe.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Just sounds unbelievable on heather that would be 5 supers more even??

Yes maybe but I was just wondering why YOU needed proof? After all you believe them or not. It doesn’t matter. A picture of a stack would mean nothing. We can all post a stack of supers.

 

[Worker bee]

200lb for one hive what set up is that colony. ??
I've got one that has a brood and two supers nowhere near 200lbs.

Two broods for queen and a brood n super for honey. The bees fill three broods. I've already extracted once got two broods and a super so far. The brood is being capped and super nearly full. Oh and I'll get some capped frames out the brood boxes when done and replace the frames. When one is full I stick the other below it for them to pull more up and cap it off. Went up today and they are still hitting it hard

 

[Worker bee]

They were hanging out the front today waiting to get in so it probably needs four broods and the brood boxes still full of capped brood. It's rammed but no queen cells

 

[Worker bee]

Thanks for questioning it, I was just sobbing into my porridge regretting not taking any up.

I have no reason to lie I have hives that have struggled to get two supers. Its a buckfast colony it's been my best ever hive and it's not huge but they are out performing every hive I have by far and have been all year

 

[Worker bee]

Just sounds unbelievable on heather that would be 5 supers more even??

It's definitely had more than five supers worth. I'm averaging two supers. So it's more than double my average per hive. The queen will get marked red and five hives with her queen cells in next year to test them

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Why do you need proof?

it's not like we see any bullsh!tters on here selling us a line

 

[Cefn Eithaf]

200lb for one hive what set up is that colony. ??
I've got one that has a brood and two supers nowhere near 200lbs.

Maybe more to do with the quality of the heather and the weather micro climate than the strength of the hive ?

 

[pargyle]

Maybe more to do with the quality of the heather and the weather micro climate than the strength of the hive ?

I dunno ... I've no heather near me and I don't take hives to the heather but I have just extracted the honey from my garden hives and I have one colony that has completely outperformed (almost double) all the other colonies. All mine are on single 14 x 12 brood boxes and most of them are of a similar colony size but this one colony has just romped away this year. I checked all the varroa loads a couple of weeks ago (sugar rolls on all colonies) and they were all pretty much the same so it's not colony health, They are all in the same apiary in the garden and this colony is in the middle of the row - they all have access to the same forage. There's no logical explanation except that some colonies do seem to work harder than others given the same location and circumstances.

At the risk of denting my tin hat ... the row of hives is sited on a single energy line that runs through the apiary but when I get a minute to spare I'm going to get my rods out and check again to see if there is an intersection as well.

 

[elainemary]

Too hot for beekeeping today but had to be done, a nice cool 20C whilst visiting my colony on the moor vs 25C down in the valley, the only time it’s been in the 20s whilst they’ve been there. The Heather flowers are changing colour and the flow is all but over.
Top super is nearly fully capped, lovely white cappings. Excited about having my first cut comb. Middle super only just starting to cap and measured 20-22 with the refractometer, I took samples at the hive. Bottom super uncapped 23-25. Will leave the bottom super that’s full for them and take the top 2 off at the weekend and top up with invert when they’re home

 

[Curly green finger's]

Third lot of clearer boards going on now shortly. Hopefully collecting them later this evening. I've been putting clearers under single supers each time.
Average is two supers per single brood colony, I have a few bigger colonys that have managed three, all super frames are 80% capped now after the last 5 days..
Extracting... I don't want to go there....
Not looking forward to spending the next two days processing.. I'm getting a loosener for subsequent years the extractor has the convertor baskets.

Have a good day all

 

[Amari]

For several intermittent years I've taken a couple of hives to the heather at Dunwich Heath on the Suffolk coast. This is dry sandy heath so no good in a drought. This year I was heartened by a wet May and June and took my first hive in mid June just as good-looking bell heather was starting. The second hive was placed in late July as the ling appeared.
My hope was to get some nice ling honey, ultra-rare in these parts, for our local BKA show this coming Sunday. However we've had an almost total drought here this last month.

Two days ago I brought back two capped supers from the first hive and one from the second. High hopes some ling!

Sadly it was soon apparent the the whole crop is bell heather which centrifuged out leaving empty combs. Only one comb among the 30 had an area of more orange honey that failed to spin. It's the recent drought that's done it.

I only get to use my honey press once or twice a decade!

 

[elainemary]

Third lot of clearer boards going on now shortly. Hopefully collecting them later this evening. I've been putting clearers under single supers each time.
Average is two supers per single brood colony, I have a few bigger colonys that have managed three, all super frames are 80% capped now after the last 5 days..
Extracting... I don't want to go there....
Not looking forward to spending the next two days processing.. I'm getting a loosener for subsequent years the extractor has the convertor baskets.

Have a good day all

Spent the day extracting honey from my hives in the valley. Most frames had heather in to some extent. So a nice heather blend this year. Other years it’s been predominantly balsam - far fewer balsam frames this year!

I used an old Mountain Grey hand held loosener I picked up v cheaply at auction and wiggled the spikes in the cells then spun these out radially, gradually increasing speed. Pleased to say it has come out without destroying any comb. Lot more work than spinning out balsam!
The cell walls get a bit distorted bu the loosener but I’m told by an experienced heather going friend that the bees will repair this next spring.

Not tried this method on my main heather colonies at home, or the one up on the moor which will have much purer heather honey rather than a blend . I’ll give it a go and resort to using a Smith cutter to take the comb back to the mid rib and press it out if it doesn’t work.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Spent the day extracting honey from my hives in the valley. Most frames had heather in to some extent. So a nice heather blend this year. Other years it’s been predominantly balsam - far fewer balsam frames this year!

I used an old Mountain Grey hand held loosener I picked up v cheaply at auction and wiggled the spikes in the cells then spun these out radially, gradually increasing speed. Pleased to say it has come out without destroying any comb. Lot more work than spinning out balsam!
The cell walls get a bit distorted bu the loosener but I’m told by an experienced heather going friend that the bees will repair this next spring.

Not tried this method on my main heather colonies at home, or the one up on the moor which will have much purer heather honey rather than a blend . I’ll give it a go and resort to using a Smith cutter to take the comb back to the mid rib and press it out if it doesn’t work.

I haven't a Smith cutter I found this in the tool box the other day, handy little trowel

 

[Newbeeneil]

I haven't a Smith cutter I found this in the tool box the other day, handy little trowel View attachment 28295

Pity it's not stainless steel.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I haven't a Smith cutter I found this in the tool box the other day, handy little trowel View attachment 28295

You’re not seriously using that on honey you are going to sell I hope

 

[pargyle]

Pity it's not stainless steel.

Good god,,, that's a brickies pointing trowel - point one end, rubber at the other .... I have one that was my grandfather's (he was a builder). Not sure it meets food grade standards .... I thought Mark might be joking but it looks like it's covered in honey.

 

[Newbeeneil]

Good god,,, that's a brickies pointing trowel - point one end, rubber at the other .... I have one that was my grandfather's (he was a builder). Not sure it meets food grade standards .... I thought Mark might be joking but it looks like it's covered in honey.

Yes it sure is a pointing trowel, you can now get them in stainless but that one isn't.

 

[pargyle]

Yes it sure is a pointing trowel, you can now get them in stainless but that one isn't.

He might have cleaned the polyfilla off first !