Summer harvest?

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Is this the worse year for everybody or can you remember a season as dire?

as far as I can tell it's been a pretty decent season - not the best but far far away from being a 'bad' one

 

[pargyle]

Is this the worse year for everybody or can you remember a season as dire?

Not the worst season by any stretch but it varies enormously by location... my spring crop is mainly tree blossom and it was decimated by almost continuous rain ... then we had that period of really dry weather which did not produce a lot of nectar rich sources - now, there's still stuff coming in but the changeable weather - I think they are eating as much as they bring in. I usually take my supers off last week in August or thereabouts down here - looks a bit like it's going to be a bit below average year. Most around me are saying much the same ...

 

[jeff33]

Well, I think I have done better than last year. I am currently 30kg short of equalling last year's crop and still got 20 supers to extract. They have all been removed so no chance of the bees eating through them.

 

[The Poot]

Well, I think I have done better than last year. I am currently 30kg short of equalling last year's crop and still got 20 supers to extract. They have all been removed so no chance of the bees eating through them.

I assume they have stores in the broods? If not, what will they eat?

 

[jeff33]

I assume they have stores in the broods? If not, what will they eat?

of course they have. I always overwinter on single brood so they have plenty for the moment and will get winter feed in mid-end Spetember as I don't want to restrict queen laying as yet.

 

[Parsonage Bees]

16lb/colony average. Not great.
Spring harvest was about twice that.
. . . . . Ben

 

[Nannysbees]

Clearing boards on, supers of tomorrow. Drone larvae on the landing board today legs still moving!!!!!

 

[Erichalfbee]

Drone larvae on the landing board today

Same here in front of one hive.

 

[Murox]

I think this years summer harvest proves that where I am with the forage available makes this a marginal beekeeping area. A recent grand total of 2.2kg out of two hives, and some reasonable stores in the brood boxes. A couple more still have a super on with a chance of catching a little local heather, but thats not looking very promising at all and others are, well, just plodding along. If it hadn't been for a bumper spring crop thats still selling, I should have nothing to show for the year. On the bright side its warmish today but the wind is significant, again!!!!!

 

[Swarm]

Clearing boards on, supers of tomorrow. Drone larvae on the landing board today legs still moving!!!!!

Pupae? Larvae don't have legs

 

[robmort]

Is this the worse year for everybody or can you remember a season as dire?

Best year ever here, 200kg from 2 hives, hard to believe but 9 supers from each, mostly up to end June.

 

[Swarm]

Yes, we can be thankful for a monstrous flow in Spring, I've seen very little evidence of Summer honey in the supers extracted so far.

 

[Parsonage Bees]

16lb/colony average. Not great.
Spring harvest was about twice that.
. . . . . Ben

This photo just about sums it up. Shook any frames like this with open nectar and didn't drip but now it's in the bucket it's 20% water.

 

[Garry R]

Great spring and rubbish summer. There seemed to be more than a splash of rain every day washing nectar out of bramble and clover. There was tons of it too but no honey. I have started to feed and between it and the ivy to come will have to hopefully see them through the winter. Lovely morning here first thing but lookiing outside I see it is now chucking it down as it seems to do at some point every day. Blossom all done now. However 450lbs extracted from spring from 4 hives (plus 2 nucs made) but what it could have been...................

 

[Nannysbees]

Clearing boards on with a rhombus, used the crown board which didn't work very well at all, lots of bees still in the supers. Extracted three supers of bits and pieces with a view to feed back to the bees, the moisture content was 19.5 % .

 

[The Poot]

Extracted two supers from one hive and it only amounted to 21lbs at 18.5%.
Remainder, nectar recently stored, it seems, well over 20% fed back - but there wasn’t much of it.
Four supers left to take later this week.