Where is all the 'super' honey this year?

[gmonag]

Mine still have a lot of unripe/uncapped honey in the supers. There's plenty there but not yet ready to extract.

 

[GuyNir]

Best year ever for me when it comes to honey production, despite destroying 4 colonies due to EFB.
July was amazing here, Aug so far non stop rain.

 

[Rock_Chick]

Up in sunny Lancashire 6 hives only 2 supers on 1 of those, rest have 1 and hardly touching them, they have been very slow this year to draw wax. On my inspections I’ve noticed they have been using more stores, I was hoping to day to put on more supers due to the balsam, there is not as much of that about as usual, most of my honey comes from balsam and supers get full pretty fast, but not this year.

 

[Paddyg]

Thanks Jane. At last someone in the same boat as me, even though I am in Yorkshire. I have loads of Balsam so hope yet but not looking good yet!! Bramble flowered in rough weather so left alone mainly although previously it was my main source of nectar and pollen.

 

[Moobee]

Didn’t realise it was a competition as to how far south we are……….I can see the IOW from my bedroom window, can anyone beat that?

 

[Rock_Chick]

Thanks Jane. At last someone in the same boat as me, even though I am in Yorkshire. I have loads of Balsam so hope yet but not looking good yet!! Bramble flowered in rough weather so left alone mainly although previously it was my main source of nectar and pollen.

I was thinking it must be me lol, I really don't know why, when another beekeeper not far from me is doing well with his honey. We both trained at the same apiary so work the bees the same way. its just down right strange year.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I was thinking it must be me lol, I really don't know why, when another beekeeper not far from me is doing well with his honey. We both trained at the same apiary so work the bees the same way. its just down right strange year.

I have eight hives in a row. Only one has found the balsam, every bee is white dotted and the bees are out in the drizzle. The others are much quieter

 

[The Poot]

Mine have produced more honey than I have had from the last few years, with last year a real wash out.
I started with four colonies which all had first year queens. (That’s partly why last year was so badand why this year has been good)
Only one this year has caught swarm fever and I have had three very large colonies, which despite lots of negatives caused by the weather (as above) have managed to make a decent harvest. I took two capped supers off today and have three more to take - from Summer flow. I had already taken Spring honey - for the first time - this year. While not a massive harvest, as some are able to post on here, I am more than content with the results of the bees hard work. I will also have a super per hive to feed back to them for Winter if I decide to go that route.

 

[Levitt53]

I've had a very good year too. I put it down to lots of rain and lots of sun, whereas last year was continuous sun.

 

[Stiffy]

Didn’t realise it was a competition as to how far south we are……….I can see the IOW from my bedroom window, can anyone beat that?

Yep, I have hives close the most southerly point in the UK

 

[Susan1]

I have three hives at present. The overwintered hive very slow to increase - no supers
The new nuc this year produced 4 supers of lovely honey, first time in years I have actually got honey about 90 jars of it. I bought another nuc which was doing brilliant then the queen who was marked and clipped disappeared. I am hoping to save it as it was expensive.

 

[tonyofarr]

The short-lived heatwave brought in most of our honey. It has not been a great year, but not as disastrous as last year. We are still taking off supers so I am still not sure what the final tally will be.

It has a very Autumnal feel at the moment and SWMBO reckons she smelt ivy in one hive a couple of days ago.

 

[HARoberts]

I'm intrigued by whereabouts you're located Brewer. I always got the opposite impression, that it was the further south you were the more likely you were to have more full supers. I'm pretty far south, in Kent, just outside Maidstone. I don't have too many year's yields to compare yet, but I'm up slightly on last year so far.

Funny, I live between Folkstone and Canterbury and have just enough stores for the bees. No harvesting for me this year .

 

[Swarm]

The short-lived heatwave brought in most of our honey. It has not been a great year, but not as disastrous as last year. We are still taking off supers so I am still not sure what the final tally will be.

It has a very Autumnal feel at the moment and SWMBO reckons she smelt ivy in one hive a couple of days ago.

Yes, it all happened in a couple of weeks in July really. August certainly brought an Autumnal feel and slammed the brakes on the flow, it's been the same for the last five years around here. We've taken more than half the supers off but plenty still to come in so aiming to have them all cleared by the bank holiday.
No sign of Ivy yet but no sign of Balsam foraging either.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Didn’t realise it was a competition as to how far south we are……….I can see the IOW from my bedroom window, can anyone beat that?

from my bedroom window on a clear day I can see the Bristol channel, also in the winter the top of snowdonia.

 

[Brewer24]

I have three hives at present. The overwintered hive very slow to increase - no supers
The new nuc this year produced 4 supers of lovely honey, first time in years I have actually got honey about 90 jars of it. I bought another nuc which was doing brilliant then the queen who was marked and clipped disappeared. I am hoping to save it as it was expensive.

I get the feeling that this is the near norm this year with a few lucky beeks.
Out of 6 hives I’ve only taken honey from 1 hive the rest are too light on stores and will definatly need feeding this winter!

 

[victor meldrew]

We are in the midst of a honey flow as-is usual at this time of the year in these parts . One hive has 5 full supers on .
the bees are out in force every break in the weather and hammering the balsam in spite of the volunteer balsam bashers best efforts.
I haven’t fed my bees for years ! I never take Spring honey, my main crop is taken September,leaving plenty of time for the bees to stock their Winter larder.
I’m on 14x12 s .