when to take off the heather?

[Poly Hive]

As said above it is over in the Highlands, going brown. Can't say I saw much better further south so good luck but I would be taking mine home...

PH

 

[keith pierce]

i am not bring mine home till the 12th of september as the ivy starts to yield around then.

 

[Poly Hive]

Saturday temp in Fort William was 14C at 1pm..... LOL

PH

 

[Juststarting]

Lovely here at moment - 3 consequetive days of sun - must be summer at last.

Just driven over the tops of moors (high peak)- still very pink. Couldn't comment on flow - mine arent on heather this year and having read PH's advice will be thinking hard about timings if I go to the heather next year (about 5 miles away!)

Hope this helps rather than confuses issue.

 

[Jimmy]

Saturday temp in Fort William was 14C at 1pm..... LOL

PH

I have one colony on the heather in the Black Mountains which will be there until next w/e at the latest.
I went up on the 25th August at about 9.30, cold day with rain threatening and the temp. less than 12 C. Bees were busy and the heather was half pink, half brown. They went up there on the 3rd and all colonies had gained weight but were not packed.

 

[jezd]

Heather still has strong flow here, about 10% has browned off and there is still fresh heather coming on.

This weather is making up for bad start!

Both pictures taken in the last hour :-

http://twitpic.com/2ki60h
http://twitpic.com/2ki6kf

PS I took the pics whilst on a run and noticed lots of bees working it too

Forecast ensembles show average or above average temps for next week + so I am leaving to make up for crappy start :- http://www.jp2webdesign.co.uk/two/ensembles/

 

[jezd]

i am not bring mine home till the 12th of september as the ivy starts to yield around then.

are you cropping the ivy or just as a Winter feed?

 

[keith pierce]

what i generally do is pull full capped frames out of the strongh colonies and and give them to nucs to and try and expand them into full brood boxes before the winter.this gives them room to strore and work the ivy and will not leave strong colonies brood bound. i also pull out any dummy boards and give them that extra frame of space.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Checked some hives on the heather today....brood boxes are stuffed with ling, and supers that were empty just over a week ago are now filling like crazy,not at all normal for this time,especially looking at most of the heather which is well past it's best. Even Quinces hives were flying well.

 

[preyingmantos]

im going up to derbyshire tomorrow to check on them... ill let you guys know how its going down up there

 

[Foxylad]

The heather is still flowering hear in north yorkshire. Its very late, the commercial bee keepers that bring there hives up are going to be staying another week as there is still a flow, but it wont last to long as most is starting to go pink.

Cant wait to extract my first heather honey, think ill have to invest in a small heather press, more expense!! Don't tell the missis i need more kit!!

 

[jezd]

temps look good for another week too

 

[preyingmantos]

heather was looking good. still collecting as i shook out nector on a few combs. Average so far about 30-40lbs per colony.

 

[preyingmantos]

pics taken on saturday....

 

[clare p]

Those photos look lovely, a bit similar to our view on the Ashdown forest,
I look at heather and struggle to find how these dry tiny flowers can produce nectar, they always feel a bit "crispy" to me.
Clare

 

[oliver90owner]

Gavin/Poly Hive,

That pint; a week on; did you win it or lose?

I have feeling from the posts here that gavin may well have won, considering preyingmantos was still getting a good flow on the 5th.

Regards, RAB

 

[preyingmantos]

mine arent coming home until the last petal hits the ground - ive got far to many hungary bees to feed before them. hows every1 else doing yeild wise with this years heather?

 

[Black Comb]

Well only my second year but much better than last.
Took them off on Monday - more to do with vehicle availability (4 x 4) than perceived end of flow.

They were certainly heavy.