Maximum number of colonies...

[Poly Hive]

I agree. When I was running the 60 to 80 hives I was offshore so when I was home I was full time in the bees. I found that the only way to know what the limit was was to test the numbers and at 80 it was getting too much. And I had a wife who was helping too so you know that makes an odds.

You may be 33 and fit but what if you pull your back or twist an ankle moving bees? This is the crap one needs to plan for. Also I would spend some time planning your hive moves as when we invested £1500 20 odd years ago in a bigger trailer being able to move 36 in a batch to the OSR for instance or 24 to the heather made a huge difference in efficiency.

The devil is aye in the details, and the bigger you go the more important they are.

PH

 

[BMH]

I agree. When I was running the 60 to 80 hives I was offshore so when I was home I was full time in the bees. I found that the only way to know what the limit was was to test the numbers and at 80 it was getting too much. And I had a wife who was helping too so you know that makes an odds.

You may be 33 and fit but what if you pull your back or twist an ankle moving bees? This is the crap one needs to plan for. Also I would spend some time planning your hive moves as when we invested £1500 20 odd years ago in a bigger trailer being able to move 36 in a batch to the OSR for instance or 24 to the heather made a huge difference in efficiency.

The devil is aye in the details, and the bigger you go the more important they are.

PH

Its seems this is the way forward then..

Not sure how is best to plan for a major injury except having someone on hand who can offer assistance when its required.

Funny you should mention the trailer as I have just had my tow bar fitted and am now in the market for a trailer.

Once the pick up is full of kit, I can only fit 4 double brood hives at a time which is a real pain. If i could get a trailer that could move 20-30 at a time that would be fantastic and really boost productivity.

They arent cheap though are they!

 

[wightbees]

Try open auctions, down here they pop up often ( trailers)

 

[eltalia]

Hi Bill, here he is in the recording. You can have a listen yourself if you like.
(Start at the 5 minute mark perhaps).https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/tas-country-hour/pollination-services/9870170
He does mention that the single beekeeper would have to work very, very hard.

Yep, listen carefully and pay attention to the "perhaps" being thrown in
,bloke.
/winks/
Funnily enough his history timeline - whilst in another State - mimics the
disdain we copped when *starting* 30+ years ago into pollination, the
honeybadgers in the Association had a quiet chuckle when I or my
partner (then) spoke on the topic. This fella is finding out now the nuances
of running pollinator colonies require a way deeper understanding of
husbandry then throwing boxes on as honeybadgers do.
He's a grounded b'keep though so he'll figure it out.

What I found more interesting were the comments of that lady farmer in
referencing the symbiotic relationship required, her points are exactly that
which we developed over servicing orchard and vine (alternately) to get our
business window profitable, I was chuffed to hear a younger (newGen)
farmer vocalise pretty much the model for working together. Reading between
the lines it is going to be a dearth of experienced b'keeps for pollination, not
bees, that are going to put the brakes on the stone and berry expansion for
Tassie. A smart young fella would be studying up on topics as "critical mass"
and "broodnest expansion" (n0t broodchamber) to be set to jump on the first
cashcow ringing his number.

One aspect I got from it, and which also would be relevant to a single b'keep
operation is what I know as slipstreaming, or rather when and how you go to
agistment for your stacks, as that is the only time QXs go on with a super over.
Being an island and limited climatic favours I cannot see where one could set
250+ stacks for 20weeks, my knowledge of Tassie microenvirons is sparse.
We had 3 sites in Queensland we used in alternating years as "set an' forget"
for agistment, travelling maybe 500klm from base to set the boxes.
Maybe for Tassie those distances are not required and so the time spent is
doable by the single b'keep..??
Dunno...
/shrugs/

Bill

 

[eltalia]

PolyHive wrote in part;
"The devil is aye in the details, and the bigger you go the more important they are. ".

Indeed so... and well beyond the scope of any online forum as
it would be few c'mrcl operators (anywhere) even inclined to discuss
such micromanagement.

Bill

 

[Curly green fingers]

I wanted to say I'm finding this thread very interesting to read.by the end of the season I will have 40+ hives and the following year I plan to double that .
I'm very lucky I'm self- employed and have a son to help .
My issue is out apiarys and being kitted up for every eventuality in the future rather than driving around with lots of kit is having somewhere safe to put hive equipment at each out apiary.

 

[Antipodes]

Yes, I agree about the thread.

It is hard to remember everything you need when visiting an out apiary...I try to picture each of the tasks ahead on the day to try and help with that. Someone mentioned to me a couple of days ago about his experience with transport and trailers, and said that even with fewer than 40 hives, he really needed a truck rather than his ute and trailer. I don't know how big the trailer was, but the ute was pretty big.

 

[For want of a better word]

Yes, I agree about the thread.

It is hard to remember everything you need when visiting an out apiary...I try to picture each of the tasks ahead on the day to try and help with that. Someone mentioned to me a couple of days ago about his experience with transport and trailers, and said that even with fewer than 40 hives, he really needed a truck rather than his ute and trailer. I don't know how big the trailer was, but the ute was pretty big.

Ever tried driving a truck around our narrow mostly single track twisty Cornish lanes?
Worse when all the tourists visit... especially those with cars that do not have a reverse gear fitted.....

Trailer is worse... even 10 colonies on a flatbed hooked up to the Defender is not easy to reverse 1/2 mile up hill to allow a townie to pass with their paintwork intact!!

I presume OZ has wide open straight roads... well it seems to have on "outback truckers"!!!

Chons da

 

[Antipodes]

Hi Cheers,

Yes...some crazy narrow roads in the old dart. I drove on one once near Lyme Regis, an old roman road apparently, that was very narrow!

I'm reminded of the four Yorkshiremen on that Monty Python sketch...you are lucky, here we don't even have roads, let alone narrow ones! Helicopters!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqfFODJsQiY

 

[eltalia]

Re moving boxes around I throw in this lesson learnt.
Many would connect with the past experience of startup in buying a
nucleus or two to "just have two hives in the backyard" only to find
inside of two seasons it just dosen't work out, there are four, maybe six
stacks in the b'yard quicktime.
Same with transport.
Sooo whilst it is possible to "get by" in tossing a half dozen boxes into
the family wagon many a move/trip concludes way more efficiently/safer
with spare room/space on the platform - whatever mode on wheels you
are looking at, double it and finance that. Your operation will meet the
challenge and in time worth it's weight in gold simply for the ease of use
and elimination of a major bottleneck with migration.

Bill

 

[citrus]

Its seems this is the way forward then..

Not sure how is best to plan for a major injury except having someone on hand who can offer assistance when its required.

Funny you should mention the trailer as I have just had my tow bar fitted and am now in the market for a trailer.

Once the pick up is full of kit, I can only fit 4 double brood hives at a time which is a real pain. If i could get a trailer that could move 20-30 at a time that would be fantastic and really boost productivity.

They arent cheap though are they!

My transit holds 9 double brood nationals and a few nucs ... but manage to have the hives located where I am not going to get stuck .. .but if you boys are out in the heather then guess you need the 4*4

If you had decent hard surface you could get a hire a big sprinter with a tow bar and get more in that way.

 

[Stiffy]

I think this is the right way to do it ��

That’s the way we have been increasing, with 18 months to retirement (not that I am counting) we have reached 50 viable colonies. As I work a very full working week, the hives get checked in the little free time I have, mostly weekends. I have doubts any further increase is possible at present or frankly needed as we have strived to keep only very productive bees; plus they regularly produce sufficient for our sales and we are not looking to be a major producer. Any hive that fails to produce or is easy to work is quickly re-queened. Also, if we have a shortage, we are lucky to have a good source of local honey.
S

 

[SDM]

Once the pick up is full of kit, I can only fit 4 double brood hives at a time which is a real pain. If i could get a trailer that could move 20-30 at a time that would be fantastic and really boost productivity.

They aren't cheap though, are they !

Did you go for a double cab pickup ? Can't see the point in a work vehicle with half a work space myself.

 

[BMH]

Did you go for a double cab pickup ? Can't see the point in a work vehicle with half a work space myself.

I did.

I had to balance my beekeeping requirements with the family/FT work requirements.



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[mbc]

I did.

I had to balance my beekeeping requirements with the family/FT work requirements.



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Lols I run several hundred colonies using a little kangoo van which I often blow the bees out and put the seats down to take the kids places.

 

[SDM]

Lols I run several hundred colonies using a little kangoo van which I often blow the bees out and put the seats down to take the kids places.

Is it the kangoo maxi( from memory the lwb version means an extra row of hives)? If they did them in awd I'd be after one now.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

What do you think the maximum number of colonies 1 person can manage with 1 day per week available to focus on bees.

I currently have 50 which are all in close proximity to one and other.

If you have 50, you know how much work there will be to manage 100; Master BK's point about the law of diminishing returns will also play out if you don't deal with the hives properly too. And you can never do just one day per week as there are times when you have to do 'stuff' in between a weekly routine.

 

[Poly Hive]

If your going to go commercial for real then a rethink of hive type might be a plan. Square hives are inefficient on trailers. Langstroth might be the way to go.

Just a thought.

PH

 

[mbc]

Is it the kangoo maxi( from memory the lwb version means an extra row of hives)? If they did them in awd I'd be after one now.

No, I've got an old trekka, tows a six by four trailer fine when I need more kit than I can stuff into it but as she is she carries more than I used to fit in the back of an l200, better vehicle imho

 

[mbc]

If your going to go commercial for real then a rethink of hive type might be a plan. Square hives are inefficient on trailers. Langstroth might be the way to go.

Just a thought.

PH

Square hives are not inefficient when packing space, you do come up with some odd ideas ph