Honey per hives

[deemann1]

Just curious how you on here with more than a couple of colonies plan your honey season..
Do use get for example a osr,summer flower, heather and ivy crop off each colony in one season or do you utilize a number of colonys for each flow .
I guess what I'm asking is are the bees wore out after getting a crop of osr for gathering summer flower honey . Not at this long so sorry if it's a silly question

 

[wessexmario]

yes, old forager bees do work hard, but think about the fact that workers only live for around 6 weeks, and they only forage for the last half of their lives, so in a season all the workers will be completely replaced many times over.

 

[enrico]

Depends on so much. If I get a good flow of, for example, lime, then I will try and get a box or two of lime only. If it is a bad season I will be grateful of anything I can get. Some move bees to crops like OSR and heather, some just leave them in the back garden to get on with it. If you are in a rich nectar area the bees will respond, don't worry about them getting tired!
E

 

[olriley]

Most take one main crop off each hive I think. Timing is everything as colony needs to be strong to make an excess... Brother Adam is good reading on this, he geared his whole year around the heather crop.


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[Webby]

They work themselves to death but are constantly being replaced by the queen. Hence her 1500+ eggs a day.

 

[drex]

Most take one main crop off each hive I think. Timing is everything as colony needs to be strong to make an excess... Brother Adam is good reading on this, he geared his whole year around the heather crop.


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I keep my bees on land right on the edge of town. Over the hedge there are always fields of OSR within half a mile. This year it is right next door. That crop comes off in May, consisting mainly of osr, hawthorn and blackthorn ( depending on year). In August/sept I take another crop of multi floral honey - they will be foraging in gardens by then, and the hedgerows. I never take honey out of the brood boxes, and they fill up on Ivy ready for winter. For two years now I have not had to feed pre winter. Have never run out of honey for sale yet, except in my first year.
I boost colonies for the OSR by giving them frames of brood from over wintered nucs

 

[deemann1]

I keep my bees on land right on the edge of town. Over the hedge there are always fields of OSR within half a mile. This year it is right next door. That crop comes off in May, consisting mainly of osr, hawthorn and blackthorn ( depending on year). In August/sept I take another crop of multi floral honey - they will be foraging in gardens by then, and the hedgerows. I never take honey out of the brood boxes, and they fill up on Ivy ready for winter. For two years now I have not had to feed pre winter. Have never run out of honey for sale yet, except in my first year.
I boost colonies for the OSR by giving them frames of brood from over wintered nucs

That sounds good thanks for replying

 

[mbc]

There is an undeniable truth to the way a colony's work force becomes spent after working a strong flow.

 

[Beefriendly]

Just curious how you on here with more than a couple of colonies plan your honey season..

Get the spring rape harvest over first to make sure it's separate from the rest. Then harvest at the end of each month (or so); so usually have three/four different tasting summer blossom honeys, June/July/Aug. Take a few hives over to the Borage fields and few to the heather moors. Timing and numbers are always variable depending what curved balls the bees or weather Gods throw at me.

 

[For want of a better word]

Just curious how you on here with more than a couple of colonies plan your honey season..
Do use get for example a osr,summer flower, heather and ivy crop off each colony in one season or do you utilize a number of colonys for each flow .
I guess what I'm asking is are the bees wore out after getting a crop of osr for gathering summer flower honey . Not at this long so sorry if it's a silly question

In May we are already making up nucs for the first batch of the seasons mated queens, colonies are raided for early season bees and stores.
The fast build up of the yellow stripie variants is useful here as they get onto the Oil see rape and pack away the stores,,, just perfectly timed in most years.
Then once the mazola flow is over we let them get on with producing some respectable hedgerow honey.... and remove supers for extraction as they are capped ( and before they consume it for themselves)
Had to feed at the end of June through July last season as there was the first "June Gap" in some many years.... a balancing act!

Would be very different in the North West where the constant cold winds blow in from the North Sea... I should imagine!!

Yeghes da

 

[Eyeman]

Would be very different in the North West where the constant cold winds blow in from the North Sea... I should imagine!!

I presume you are referring to your sparring partner and friend in the 'North-East'?
Us in the North West are bathed warmth and jollity.

 

[For want of a better word]

I presume you are referring to your sparring partner and friend in the 'North-East'?
Us in the North West are bathed warmth and jollity.

North East of course... the Western Coasts have the beneficial warm waters of the North Atlantic Drift ( Gulf Stream)
Reading Willie Robson's book on keeping bees in The North East and bringing the colonies down from the hills to overwinter.

Beef. must have the ignore button engaged as he would have been all over me like a rash, with glee to point out any error!

Thanks

Yeghes da

 

[Beefriendly]

Beef. must have the ignore button engaged as he would have been all over me like a rash, with glee to point out any error!

Yawns....... ponders response to another of hoppy's blatant inflammatory posts ...... yawns again, scratches unmentionables and puts another log on the fire.
Zzzzzzzzz

 

[Hedgerow Honey]

I move 30 ish to OSR, these have received sealed brood from other hives to boost bee numbers and a feed, they are then split when flow over to provide replacements for losses and colony's for new sites then being moved to new permanent sites. Most of the rest will stay on their sites with the best ten being chosen for the heather. I am continually expanding apiary/hive numbers and after a crop has finished colony's are placed on new sites and then used to increase the following year, my aim being an average of ten per site and up to 100 this year. September I make up about twenty three frame nuc's in poly box's with new queens introduced to overwinter.
I feel that one good flow is enough work for a colony and do not move them from crop to crop.