honey or not

[roger molony]

my only hive swarmed on 1/06.....still left with a large amount of bees.....new queen cup placed in hive and should have emerged by now......14 days till queen starts laying, my question is will i have any chance of getting honey this year ?

 

[oliver90owner]

14 days from when? Who says 14 days? Might be, and might not, too.

any chance of getting honey this year ?

Could be. Might not. Some are already feeding colonies because they are short of stores. So depends on how you treat them, forage, the weather, if they swarm again, etc, etc.

The likely outcome will be a reduced crop but how much is not easily predictable without knowing the local details.

RAB

 

[drstitson]

if you read many of the threads on here in recent days/weeks queens are taking upto 4, 5 or 6 weeks (after emergence) to mate and start laying.

 

[For want of a better word]

Trip to the Co-OP then ???

 

[snoop]

What have you got left. Are the supers drawn or not. It will most likely take at least 21 day before the Q starts to lay ( if she mates) . Ireland is not as dry as the Uk. You will get some honey. More if the supers are already drawn. Blackberry is coming into flower here in parts but it is cool & the clover while there needs 20C to produce nectar

 

[roger molony]

thanks for the reply ...the supers are not fully drawn out,but there is a lot of hive activity ,and quiet large numbers of bees

 

[xgeordie]

Any honey my bees collected so far this year has now gone and I am feeding syrup. Another rotten summer.

The honey I managed to harvest last year came very late and seemed to be collected from himalayan balsam.

 

[Chris B]

I've heard it said that queens mate quicker when in small colonies. That seems to be true with my own bees, typically 2 to 3 weeks in a nuc, but 4 to 5 weeks in a full hive.

I would say not much chance of honey this season if you let things run a natural course. On the other hand, if you can find the virgin you could replace her with a bought-in laying queen.

 

[huntsman666]

Roger, at a minimum give her three days to build up her strength before her nuptial flight and three days to lay. If conditions are correct in all matters then the workers will force her out to mate.

Tomorrow's temperature here will be over 20C so first day in a long time for queens to mate on the wing.

Assuming you have a laying queen soon, yes, I believe you will catch the main flow in July.

 

[roger molony]

Thanks huntsman thats the sort of news i really wanted to hear !!!!!!
I am trying to air on the positive......had hoped I was finished buying honey from my local
Tesco

 

[susbees]

What have you got left. Are the supers drawn or not. It will most likely take at least 21 day before the Q starts to lay ( if she mates) . Ireland is not as dry as the Uk. You will get some honey. More if the supers are already drawn. Blackberry is coming into flower here in parts but it is cool & the clover while there needs 20C to produce nectar

Does anyone know the min temperature for blackberry nectar? We rely on blackberry. Clover going to waste atm and phacelia covered in chilled soaked bumble bees today (yes, I rescued some, need the karma points... )