Small-scale and large-scale beekeeping - what's the difference?

[BeeKeyPlayer]

Quote: Makes you wonder how commercial beekeepers ever manage to get any honey from all these diseased colonies that aren’t getting shook swarmed or Baileyed? Unquote.

The above (ironic) comment by Erichalfbee yesterday got me thinking: apart from comb changing (Bailey and shook swarm), and painting hives, are there any other significant differences between the beekeeping practices of small-scale and large-scale beekeepers?

Queen raising is done differently and there are differences of size of equipment and volume when it comes to extraction. But what about swarm control? Do you think there a different mentality, or philosophy between these two kinds of beekeeping? How much can small-scale beekeepers learn from the way things are done when the number of colonies is so much greater?

 

[madasafish]

Read Murray McGregor (@calluna4u) | Twitter

6 minutes per hive inspection.

 

[Murox]

Philosophically I imagine a more pragmatic approach, dealing with matters of fact rather than concerns over could be's and should be's.

 

[ericbeaumont]

How much can small-scale beekeepers learn from the way things are done when the number of colonies is so much greater?

A lot: big-picture management, commonality of kit, no 7-day interferences, more fun, no landing boards, more driving, less sleep, smoother thinking, more bees to talk to...

 

[Boston Bees]

no 7-day interferences

Probably obvious, but how are these avoided?

 

[ericbeaumont]

Probably obvious, but how are these avoided?

Be somewhere else.

 

[Boston Bees]

Be somewhere else.

You mean, just allow swarming? Do commercials do this? I thought they would want to hold on to their queens and bees (and thus their honey crop)!

 

[ericbeaumont]

Probably obvious, but how are these avoided?

Inspections can be extended to 14 days if the Q is clipped; bait hives are a bonus in case not all were clipped .

Swarm on 8/9, return to hive, wait for virgin on 16; sweaty beekeeper turns up on 14 to find SQCs + bees under the floor with the old Q, or inside waiting for the VQC; do splits etc.

Judging flows determines if a trip is needed: for example, a heatwave will usually switch off a nectar flow, so no trip is needed provided the main swarm period is over. Main work is from early spring to the main flow and I assure you, once that kicks in and the boxes are on, we sleep a little longer (but not much).

 

[robinharman]

The right number of hives in the right place - 20 in a row.
Ease of access - must be able to drive up to the colonies with paraphanalia.
Right kit in the right place at the right time - enough of everything which is ready to go having been built up in March/April visits.
Have a ready made plan for AS - don't waste much time looking for queens - balance later after the split if necessary.
'Managed' inspections of the time scale MMcG suggests - you know where the queen cells may be so why look at slabs of stores?
Don't inspect colonies uneccessarily - those that have fresh/recent queens/superseeding.
Give plenty of room early on and don't use a qx until June.
Clipped and marked queens, having spent a bit of time finding them in April when less bees.
No records just marker pen roof notes and of course VMD records for the apiary.
Early starts/late finishes.
Due to loosing my beekeeping partner last year a focus of mind took place and I managed 120/150 reasonably easily.
I think I had one colony swarm last year.

 

[ericbeaumont]

You mean, just allow swarming? Do commercials do this?

I believe some do, but then so do many two-hivers. Re-queening every two years and giving space in advance of need will reduce swarming a great deal.

 

[Apple]

Read Murray McGregor (@calluna4u) | Twitter

6 minutes per hive inspection.

Average would be 4 minutes, rarely spend an hour at one 10 hive apiary site unless the land owner collars you!

 

[Swarm]

Cue the four Yorkshiremen

 

[StephenT]

Give plenty of room early on and don't use a qx until June.

Could you explain why you don’t use a QE until June and how you avoid brood in the supers. Thanks.

 

[pargyle]

Cue the four Yorkshiremen

Eee ... I wur so quick doing my inspections that by the time I had finished it wur 10 minutes before I started ....

 

[ericbeaumont]

I thought they would want to hold on to their queens and bees (and thus their honey crop)!

For sure, but managing at scale means balancing risk against expense, and the system must (above all) be tailored to take into account the fact that a beekeeper can't be everywhere.

Bear in mind that beekeeping is composed of three elements: bees, equipment, forage. Thorough knowledge of all is essential and will save money and time, but too many come to it not wanting to learn beyond the minimum, if that.

I recall talking to a novice of three years who wanted to know when ivy would flower, but hadn't taken the trouble to identify and learn about ivy so couldn't keep an eye on it. He was quite surprised when I told him it was in flower and covered in bees about eight feet from him.

 

[pargyle]

Could you explain why you don’t use a QE until June and how you avoid brood in the supers. Thanks.

I don't use queen excluders at all .. the queen may lay in them in the early part of the season but by the time I come to take the supers off the brood has gone and they are filled with honey... they are a convenience for the beekeeper if they want to take an early crop of honey without the worry of brood being in there but the advantage is that there is plenty of space in the hive and it's one less reason for them to swarm - it won't prevent them if they decide they want to but for a lot of colonies they won't swarm if they have plenty of space early in the season. By June you are getting towards the stage where the swarming instinct is less and most of the stores will be above the brood nest so there's enough space for the queen to lay.

 

[StephenT]

I don't use queen excluders at all .. the queen may lay in them in the early part of the season but by the time I come to take the supers off the brood has gone and they are filled with honey... they are a convenience for the beekeeper if they want to take an early crop of honey without the worry of brood being in there but the advantage is that there is plenty of space in the hive and it's one less reason for them to swarm - it won't prevent them if they decide they want to but for a lot of colonies they won't swarm if they have plenty of space early in the season. By June you are getting towards the stage where the swarming instinct is less and most of the stores will be above the brood nest so there's enough space for the queen to lay.

Cheers. I could try that on one of my colonies this year.

 

[Antipodes]

I believe some do, but then so do many two-hivers. Re-queening every two years and giving space in advance of need will reduce swarming a great deal.

Yes..young queens....

 

[Into the lions den]

The biggest answer is 'pace'

I did indeed say 6 minutes a colony...bear in mind that is over the team...some are skilled and some less so...and we do not have a clock running....it takes as long as it takes to do the job properly...just works out at about 6 beekeeper minutes per hive at the end of the day.

Gives rise to suspicion we do not see things, but you learn to read the colony very quickly and bitter experience has taught us about the bad things we need to find. We see everything a less trained beekeeper or one in it purely as a hobby sees..but you have to train the eye to scan rather than lok and let your eye be drawn to the anomalies..queens are quickest found by scanning..not by looking at bees..

However this idea of pace is a concept they don't quite get until they come out with us.

Smaller or less experienced beekeepers do a lot of things that are not needed....but they may be doing it for pleasure..which is fair enough. Unless you HAVE looked at all the detail it is hard to go on to be selective enough and acquire the pace.

Look for and deal with what you need to deal with.
Dont get bogged down with gadgets.

 

[ericbeaumont]

I heard of a tip from a young Czech beefarmer a few years ago: aim to assess the apiary as a whole, rather than the individual colonies in it.

If queens are of a similar age and colonies balanced for strength early in the season then work in one colony is (reasonably) likely to apply throughout.