Thank heavens that's over

[ShinySideUp]

Every year about this time, I take out the apivar strips then move the last super underneath the brood box for the winter -- the bees really don't like me doing that. Silly thing is is that the supers really don't have much in them this year so I'm not sure why I bothered, just habit I suppose and it does give them a little bit extra food for the winter. It does go to show that from the beginning of August onwards there is not much forage to be had, especially this year which hasn't been good for honey anyway which is odd as I thought it would be a good year considering the nice weather we had.

 

[Amari]

Every year about this time, I take out the apivar strips then move the last super underneath the brood box for the winter -- the bees really don't like me doing that. Silly thing is is that the supers really don't have much in them this year so I'm not sure why I bothered, just habit I suppose and it does give them a little bit extra food for the winter. It does go to show that from the beginning of August onwards there is not much forage to be had, especially this year which hasn't been good for honey anyway which is odd as I thought it would be a good year considering the nice weather we had.

We'll have to wait until the 2020 honey-harvest results from different parts of the country are published next year. The spring yield here was excellent - but we are surrounded by OSR. The July yield was poor but better than average in August.

Those of us who are taking part in the National Honey Monitoring Scheme receive a report of pollen types in our submitted samples and a pie chart of the land usage within a 10km radius.

It would be fascinating to correlate this data with UK weather data and see, for different parts of the country, why some years are good or bad. PhD anyone?

 

[Erichalfbee]

It would be fascinating to correlate this data with UK weather data and see, for different parts of the country, why some years are good or bad.

I can tell you straight off as far as I’m concerned. 2018 was an exceptionally good year and Welsh beekeepers will talk about it for years to come. The sun shone for months.
This year has been appalling. It has rained and rained and most forage after dandelion was drowned.

 

[Apple]

I can tell you straight off as far as I’m concerned. 2018 was an exceptionally good year and Welsh beekeepers will talk about it for years to come. The sun shone for months.
This year has been appalling. It has rained and rained and most forage after dandelion was drowned.

Some around these parts of the country have said that they have just fed what honey was supered straight back to the bees..... Our own harvest was 60% down on last year, which was a golden year for honey.... but a match for the previous year 2018!
Well done Native Black Cornish bees, have kept the store room full!!!

Chons da

 

[The Poot]

It’s not been very special here in North Dorset either. Last year was good, despite being particularly swarmy.

 

[hemo]

My year wasn't to far off last year, my harvest though way buoyed particularly by one colony that gave 86lbs end of spring and early August only 22lbs. Though in general excess honey was pretty poor during the main summer flow.

 

[Swarm]

The colonies that made honey were the ones on Demarree.

 

[hemo]

We'll have to wait until the 2020 honey-harvest results from different parts of the country are published next year. The spring yield here was excellent - but we are surrounded by OSR. The July yield was poor but better than average in August.

Those of us who are taking part in the National Honey Monitoring Scheme receive a report of pollen types in our submitted samples and a pie chart of the land usage within a 10km radius.

It would be fascinating to correlate this data with UK weather data and see, for different parts of the country, why some years are good or bad. PhD anyone?

NHMS had over a thousand samples returned so not all will be tested fully, to be fair they have said they will (due to man power and working practice due to covid) only be able to test a fraction from each area. They have said that the areas will have approx the same amount of samples tested as some areas produced a lot more sample requests then others.

 

[ericbeaumont]

It does go to show that from the beginning of August onwards there is not much forage to be had

No ivy? Been pouring in here the last fortnight; even extracted some (running late again) from the last few boxes, and balsam has picked up here and there.

 

[Newbeeneil]

One of my hives is still bringing in balsam but the other dozen or so on the same site aren't touching it!

 

[mbc]

I can tell you straight off as far as I’m concerned. 2018 was an exceptionally good year and Welsh beekeepers will talk about it for years to come. The sun shone for months.
This year has been appalling. It has rained and rained and most forage after dandelion was drowned.

I did well in the first half of May, a bit of a disaster since then with whole apiaries with only a couple of tidy supers in them, could have been a killer blow if it wasn't for the two good years previously.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I did well in the first half of May, a bit of a disaster since then with whole apiaries with only a couple of tidy supers in them, could have been a killer blow if it wasn't for the two good years previously.

2018 was exceptional, last year was fantastic but this year...... in general my yield average per apiary is less than my usual crop per hive

 

[mbc]

2018 was exceptional, last year was fantastic but this year...... in general my yield average per apiary is less than my usual crop per hive

If you're anything like me Jenkins your expectations of "usual crop" have ballooned since 2018/19

 

[ShinySideUp]

No ivy? Been pouring in here the last fortnight; even extracted some (running late again) from the last few boxes, and balsam has picked up here and there.

We have plenty of ivy around here. I always leave one super on top after the honey harvest, each super usually has a bit of late summer honey in it which I let the bees top up with ivy and whatever else they can find before putting it underneath but nothing seems to have happened this year so perhaps they just stored it in the brood box. When they've calmed down a bit in a few weeks I'll pop in and do some hefting but I think I may be feeding this winter.

 

[The Poot]

The colonies that made honey were the ones on Demarree.

That would imply the success was down to colony size. I’m not sure that’s right as the main problem (here) this year, was the bad weather when forage was available. Jenks, the “demarree king” also had a poorer year. Perhaps, again, it’s location specific?

 

[elainemary]

I can tell you straight off as far as I’m concerned. 2018 was an exceptionally good year and Welsh beekeepers will talk about it for years to come. The sun shone for months.
This year has been appalling. It has rained and rained and most forage after dandelion was drowned.

Wally Shaw said the same re Anglesey this year.

 

[North End Bees]

We'll have to wait until the 2020 honey-harvest results from different parts of the country are published next year.

My harvests are completely different just from one site to the next within the same county.

One apiary, in a woodland/agri setting, always brings in a fantastic lime harvest, almost capped as fast as I can harvest it for those few weeks. Then it switches off and the place is a desert until the ivy. I'm feeding in August.

My home apiary 10 miles from that is on the edge of town so crops/woodland one direction, suburban gardens the other. Helped also by a river 200m away with banks of HB. The nectar flow continues right through and I never have to feed.

(Yes, I know I could move the bees for the lime honey but there are other reasons I want to keep bees on that site.)

 

[elainemary]

2020 has been good for me, but that might be linked to learning more & becoming a better beekeeper. Last 3 years was spent gradually building up colonies. I put the extra crop down this year to making sure my foraging force was strong at the right time with this years queens ie just ahead of the heather and balsam and all colonies came out of winter really strong. I think this was probably because they were fed really well the previous autumn, insulated well in their WBCs and varroa treated in autumn and winter. Had a good spring crop and not bad summer and a lovely heather crop from a hive at home near the moors. We don’t have big crops here as it’s not an agricultural area & the Pennines are known for wet windy weather!

 

[Swn58]

I can't speak for anyone else in the West Midlands or Warwickshire, but my crop this year was well beyond what I expected. My first honey was processed in late July. I ran out of jars and had to order the same amount again! I also had to order more frames and foundation. By early September it was obvious there was even more honey, especially from the farm bees. I ordered yet more jars from The Bottle Company. I currently have about six gallons of honey settling, that I have not got round to bottling yet.
I visited the farm bees to give them their second varroa treatment yesterday. I had to leave frames in the supers last week, some were half full. Obviously they cannot be harvested for human consumption, so they have been left for winter stores. I noticed that all the bees are tumbling in with tonnes of pollen and most of the frames I left are filling up fast again!

 

[drex]

Thinking of becoming a jar warehouse as crop was so poor. Unusually foe me there was no OSR within easy range and summer was so very dry. However since the autumn harvest they have pile it in and I do not have to consider any feeding