Woo hoo heather

[bee crazy]

went to check on the bees in Wales today i have 24 stocks up on the more.
15 with half a super and 9 with a full super of honey (or nearley full) this is my 4th year of taking bees to the Heather and this is the best i have seen them i actually might get some Heather Honey

Next problem how do i get it out of the frames and do i take more supers

P.s Thanks to PH for advice

 

[Poly Hive]

LOL, just spent a week in the high country observing the heather and so on.

Glad it is happening for you though I think we need a week of heat which we ain't going to get it seems..

PH

 

[mbc]

Well done. I have some getting into their third super of heather honey and theres 19 c forecast for thursday. I extract using a tangential cage in the extractor and one of these " http://www.bees-online.co.uk/view.asp?ID=1206" , its a bit messy and slow, but it does get the honey into buckets.

 

[hallshoney]

I have 13 on a smallish part of exmoor that has plenty of heather(this side of the moor is mostly rough grass and gorse) they havnt gatherd much yet. It seems it hasnt flowerd up very well this year.Hopefully its just a bit late.

 

[Hivemaker.]

I have 13 on a smallish part of exmoor that has plenty of heather(this side of the moor is mostly rough grass and gorse) they havnt gatherd much yet. It seems it hasnt flowerd up very well this year.Hopefully its just a bit late.

You have them in the wrong part,been in flower since last week of july,and flowering really well round this part.

 

[keith pierce]

I have 13 on a smallish part of exmoor that has plenty of heather(this side of the moor is mostly rough grass and gorse) they havnt gatherd much yet. It seems it hasnt flowerd up very well this year.Hopefully its just a bit late.

My heather is the same this year and not turning the mountain purple. I am going to check on them today, but i dont think it going to be a good year for me.

 

[Vergilius]

My heather is the same this year and not turning the mountain purple. I am going to check on them today, but i dont think it going to be a good year for me.

The heather on my local golf course has flowered beautifully since mid July...


Ben P

 

[bee crazy]

looked at the long range weather and looks good for the next week thinking of taking 10 more tomorow

 

[keith pierce]

checked on them today. some have a half super full, some have not gone up into the super at all. it was cold up there today, but bees were flying stong, suggesting that the heather was yielding well. big difference from
e a week ago. what they need is a week of warm weather but i am not going to get that judging by the forecast

 

[hallshoney]

You have them in the wrong part,been in flower since last week of july,and flowering really well round this part.

I have had bees out on this patch before and i think it is mostly bell heather as it always goes through the extractor and possibly bell and ling dont flower at same time. been out there this evening and seems to be a bit more purple than aweek ago.

 

[user 1914]

mbc, I'm impressed by the amount of your honey. I'm on my 2nd year on heather and as last year will have one super per hive. I'd like to increase this as more reward for the effort (and I would like to try sections too). I had an expert review my hives last week who said my bees were just not warm enough and were over-supered. How do you set your hives up?

My hives are nationals, with omf and no insulation except under the roof. I put two supers on each (optimist to the end).

Well done. I have some getting into their third super of heather honey and theres 19 c forecast for thursday.

 

[mbc]

DHJohn remember beekeepers are like fishermen ! By getting into their third super I mean I add one super at a time ( to conserve heat ) and some of them have had their third super added. Only time will tell wether that was a wasted effort or not.
Insulation under the roofs and hives crammed with bees are my tips for heather, oh and adding supers only as the others get filled - emty space is a bugger to warm up on the moor, oh, also the supers must be drawn comb not foundation.

 

[bee crazy]

going to take more supers and more hives up tonight

 

[Norton]

Reports of many colonies in SW England as being plugged out with heather honey and they need to remove frames from brood chambers to give them some room for the queens to lay in.

 

[hallshoney]

south west heather honey

Flow now started on my small patch of exmoor in north devon and yep most brood chambers packed out. found one hive with 12 week old queen has 11 queen cells plenty of room up stairs just dont seem to go up in any great numbers

 

[keith pierce]

anybody brought them home yet. we had an extremely late year here and had coldest august in 25 years. i was up with them 2 days ago on a mild day that was 20' and they were packing it in, unfortunaly they had not been doing much for the previous two weeks. i think i will start moving them home regardless as the weather is bad for the rest of the week and i need to start treatment. The mountain has just come into full bloom in the last week and it seem a shame to leave it, but the weather forcast this eve is not giving me any encouragement

 

[Foxylad]

Heathers gone now, managed one super of each and the best hive filled two commercial supers. Got around 90 jars in total with the chunk honey and 12 cut comb pieces. Managed to get it out tangentially, so saved my comb for next year.

Most brood boxes are stuffed full, will try and get some thymol into them soon once they've cleaned the wet supers. I had nosema in two hives last year as they were so full of heather i was unable to feed.

Started varroa treatments.

 

[keith pierce]

Heathers gone now, managed one super of each and the best hive filled two commercial supers. Got around 90 jars in total with the chunk honey and 12 cut comb pieces. Managed to get it out tangentially, so saved my comb for next year.

Most brood boxes are stuffed full, will try and get some thymol into them soon once they've cleaned the wet supers. I had nosema in two hives last year as they were so full of heather i was unable to feed.

Started varroa treatments.

Well done foxylad,


I have always believed that combs of heather honey had to be crushed in order to get the honey out as it will not spin out in an extractor .
But over the years i have read on different forums of people saying that they has sucessfully extracted their honey by spinning, only to be told that it could not of been pure ling honey.
I am very tempted to fill up the extractor and give it a try

 

[mbc]

Heathers still out on my bit of mountain but with the high winds, spider webs and hard work having depleted the populations it becomes harder and harder for the bees to properly ripen any nectar that comes in so I'm biting the bullet and bringing them down. Its also a good idea to get the honey off before they star bringing in any ivy.
I have a stock of drawn brood frames ready to swap for brood frames full of heather honey and together with any supers full of honey I intend to extract using a tangential extracter and a "hand held heather loosener" which is a device consisting of hundreds of sprung nylon needles which you wiggle into the uncapped heather honey making it temporarily runny and extractable. It works ok but its a bit of a long drawn out messy process and I'll be cursing not having invested in a "full frame heather loosener" by the time I'm sticky up to my elbows !

 

[Foxylad]

it is much slower extracting heather tangentially, and no way is it possible radially. I too have a press but would much rather keep the combs for next year.

Before and after, excuse the air bubbles!