what honey

[stephenpug]

I read on here about people taking 2/3 supers off for extraction, I have got six hives in my garden but no where near ready to take any honey
So the question is what are your bees filling the supers with e,g rape seed

 

[jd101k2000]

I would think that you are probably right. The people with the bee hive equivalents of sky scrapers are probably on the rape. That said, before the bad weather set in mine were bringing in a lot of wild flower/willow nectar.

Being a noob, I would think that there are several things to consider:
1) The people who post will be those with the big yields. (Statisticians call this a 'self-selecting group.) Those with moderate or poor yields would not bother posting.

2) What is coming in will depend on the forage available and the number of bees in the area. Some areas can support 6 hives, others cannot.

3) Do you have any specific concerns about your particular bees? Failure to thrive due to disease, or do you think that the amount of nectar coming in reflects the condition in your area?

I only have questions. I am hoping that experience will give me answers.

Just had another thought. An experienced bee keeper was telling me (only last week) that some people take honey off too soon. Bad weather hits and the bees starve in the middle of summer.

 

[Cazza]

I read on here about people taking 2/3 supers off for extraction, I have got six hives in my garden but no where near ready to take any honey
So the question is what are your bees filling the supers with e,g rape seed

I have taken off about 150lbs. It's predominantly rape but also cherry blossom, willow, dandelion mixed in.
Cazza

 

[Cazza]

Just had another thought. An experienced bee keeper was telling me (only last week) that some people take honey off too soon. Bad weather hits and the bees starve in the middle of summer.

Not in my apiary.
Cazza

 

[stephenpug]

I live in birmingham the houses around me have large gardens mostly flowers shrubs and trees 5 minutes walk is woodgate valley country park so I am in quite a good foraging area but no oil seed rape which I am pleased about
All the hives do have supers on and are filling up but slowly,all the colony's are large and healthy I think this wind and rain will slow them even more which is a shame as there are loads of horsechesnut trees around here

 

[jd101k2000]

Not in my apiary.
Cazza

Sounds like you are doing fantastically well. Almost makes me wish I were in a rape area . I think that my two are probably at the 50lb mark between them. Weather here is poor with occasional gales at the moment.

 

[enrico]

Don't despair, I have five hives and my first super is only just beginning to feel any weight to it and that is better than most years at this time!

 

[stephenpug]

Don't despair, I have five hives and my first super is only just beginning to feel any weight to it and that is better than most years at this time!

 

[Cazza]

Sounds like you are doing fantastically well. Almost makes me wish I were in a rape area . I think that my two are probably at the 50lb mark between them. Weather here is poor with occasional gales at the moment.

After the rape has been harvested, that's pretty much it until blackberry time which yields a little. It's been really busy this year, early foraging and early swarming behaviour. Looking forward to a rest!

Cazza

 

[user 382]

As enrico said, don't despair. I'm not too far from you and have noticed my supers dropping in weight lately due to the bad weather, and this despite being only a mile from a relatively small field of OSR that I did think I'd get an early crop from.

 

[Swarm]

Far too early to be worrying about honey and things are different depending on your location. All too soon you will see posts about feeding and some of us will only just be extracting.

 

[Russel]

This maybe of use in determining where your bees can forage.
Draw radius on map. Other tools available!
free map tools radius

 

[stephenpug]

This maybe of use in determining where your bees can forage.
Draw radius on map. Other tools available!
free map tools radius

 

[JamezF]

I have next to nothing in the supers yet, despite two colonies being very close to huge amounts of OSR. The weather just hasn't been suitable for them to work it to any extent.

James

 

[Heather]

Be very aware of the pollen gap in June when Pollen/nectar is less plentiful.
Especially people who have harvested honey. Bees may have too little stock in hive.

 

[Finman]

.
First of all, the hive must be ripen to forage. If I have one box full of brood, that box will be foragers 6 weeks later.

Next, there must be good pastures nearby.

And finally, good warm weathers.

If the hive is not ready to get surplus, it uses honey to rear new bees. When the hive has enough old foragers, they will get surplus that you may extract honey. Them it may come a rainy week or two and bees eate the store.

 

[busybee53]

Extracted 24 lb this weekend and the same a few weeks ago, mostly from one hive. They still have a super with honey and honey stored in brood box too. Main reason I took it off is to save my back. Hard working swarm I caught last year, if a little stroppy.

They keep nipping over the park for horse chestnut and have been on fruit trees and bushes too plus lots of gardens round here.

 

[YorkshireBees]

As Finman said, the reason I am able to harvest so early is that I built up my colonies to very large and strong colonies early using a form of demaree.

Yes OSR is a big part of it but due to the weather (mild Winter / decent Spring) there has been an abundance of flowers available.
Blackthorn / Willow / OSR / Dandelions etc.
Now the Hawthorne is coming into bloom big time + OSR is still in flower.
If the weather picks up I expect another extraction in a couple of weeks.

In terms of leaving the colony with enough stores, I always do and besides I have spare brood frames full of stores that I can easily insert into any colony that is running short. Then there are the super frames that still have crystalised honey in that need cleaning out by the bees.

There are many factors that influence a honey crop but whatever the weather / forage you will not get a good crop without a lot of bees.

 

[stephenpug]

Extracted 24 lb this weekend and the same a few weeks ago, mostly from one hive. They still have a super with honey and honey stored in brood box too. Main reason I took it off is to save my back. Hard working swarm I caught last year, if a little stroppy.

They keep nipping over the park for horse chestnut and have been on fruit trees and bushes too plus lots of gardens round here.

exactly the same scenario by me lots of big gardens horsechesnut trees and pasture/country park full of wild flowers it should be perfect for them but they are probably just lazy

 

[Somerford]

The thing is there are different strains of OSR, some yield very little nectar or pollen due to breeding, but some still cultivate older varieties.
You also require good weather to get outstanding crops, same as ever really

Regards

S