Yield per hive

Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum

Help Support Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Frithgar

New Bee
Joined
Jun 18, 2010
Messages
75
Reaction score
0
Location
Launceston, Cornwall
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
3 and one nuc
Hi, this is probably already posted somewhere but I've not found it yet so here goes.
What yield should I expect per hive from a spring nuc, a full hive and what are the differances in yield I should expect from Buckfast, Italian and Carniolan bees?
I live on the Cornwall/Devon border and there is no shortage of wild flowers of all types. Most of the agriculture near to us is cattle and sheep so there is a minimum of pesticides etc being used. I know the yields vary considerable but I'm trying to decide what type of queen to buy to replace my mongrel queens and want to know how each one does.

I'm presently leaning towards Buckfast, mainly because of the robbing tendancies of Italians and the swarming tendancies of the Carniolans. Also I've seen the Buckfast apiaries a couple of times and have always admired the work Brother Adam did in his lifetime:Angel_anim:
 
Given your location I would also consider geographic climate tollerance, another good reason to go for 'true' buckfast given your proximity. No point having a high yield from a colony that is more likely to die over winter. High honey yielding 'bitches' may not give you the same enjoyment as 'respectable' yielding dosile girls. Your balance of priorities and whether this is a hobby that yields honey or a honey production business that happens to require bee husbandry is also key to your decision.
 
Same thoughts about the buckfast myself, as far as what I want from beekeeping goes, I'm a hobby beekeeper at the moment and will likely remain so for a few years. I do eventually want to turn it into a full time occupation but as I've only 2 hives and limited practical knowledge I think it's best I build it up slowly!
 
sounds like you want nice, hardy bees that happen to give you a reasonable amount of honey .... buckfast!
 
I went on an Association visit to Buckfast Abbey a couple of weeks ago. We spent ~ 1 1/2 hours in the apiary, inspecting hives and chatting generally with the 'Apiarist'. The Apiarist is a very nice woman, but obviously not a monk.

It seems that since Brother Adam's death the importance of beekeeping at Buckfast has declined rapidly. Lots of hives and colonies have been sold and the emphasis is now on education rather than honey production and breeding. In fact there is no 'breeding' in the accepted sense of trying to improve the stock any more. There isn't even any formal queen rearing and selection programme; new queens are produced by splitting colonies and allowing the splits to raise an emergency queen which is then free-mated.

The bees were very well behaved but none of the colonies had much honey.

I'm not sure that what we know/undersand as a 'Buckfast Queen' actually exists anymore.
 
The Buckfast Bee doesn't exist at Buckfast Abbey these days but there are still plenty of them about in other places with lots of skilled and dedicated people ensuring their continued survival - a bit like whippets don't just come from Whippetshire anymore.
 
I see.

Are they the same hybrids that Brother Adam produced? Using similar races from around the world? Or are they decendants of Brother Adam's hybrids?
 
The classic 10 year average is considered in the literature to be 40lb per hive.

I think that a bit low and would say 50.

PH
 
And the possible range, PH? Would that be from about -60 to +150 of your median value?

Regards, RAB
 
.
I am a hobby beekeepers. My hobby is to get TOP yields and I try all tricks to get top yields. Cost are high, but who wants to get small salmons.

* First of all, the yield depends ón the pastures, how much is nectar nearby, under 1 mile radius. If you need 3 hives to forage them, 6 hives gives smaller yield.

* Escaped swarm takes foraging bees away. Then just start to wait next summer.

The size of hive means foraging power - the yield is on pastures. You can affect tp both these factor.

Weathers affect of course but they are in God`s hands.

Many have laughed to my systems but every year some hive guves over 200 lb honey and the worst about 80 lb.

Last summer is bad. It was the worst summer for 30 years.

My average yield is 120-160 lb /last 30 years.

Best average yield was y 1994 260 lb, the worst last year 70 lb.

The average yield between summer sites are huge. Normal difference is 3 fold but 5 fold is not rare. It depends much how close bees get the nectar.

If the rape field is over 1 km distance, 50% of yield will be missinge.

*************

I have noticed that the best forager is 5-6 box langstoroth boxes. For main yield I join weak hives to get a good foraging unit. More boxes and the hive is difficult to nurse. That happiness lasts 1 month.
 
Last edited:
.
We have a beehive balance network in Finland and raspberry is just in bloom.
The best weight rise in one day is 16 kg = 36 lb.

http://www.mtt.fi/bees/kangasala_KM_10.htm

One part of the secret is that previous day was perhaps clowdy, because the rise was -2,5. On sunny day flowers had two days nectar to be colected.
 
Last edited:
FWIW my best was 300 lb from a National single brood box colony of AMM.

PH
 
That's another point, if I'm going for Buckfast bees (three queens have now been ordered for the start of august), what size brood box is best for them?
I've got all national equipment so should I just go for the 14x12 box? I've been told that a single national brood box might be too small for them.
 
.
When you do not put excluder into hives, you see how much they take to brood.

Here some professional beekeepers insist that one langstroth is enough for brood.
I want that they fill 2 langstroth box with brood. So, stupid to ask is it good.

But large brood area needs a good queen. It does not happen itself .
It needs continuos queen breeding.
 
FWIW my best was 300 lb from a National single brood box colony of AMM
Wow! out of interest how many supers and frames was this from. Also was it a single harvest, or were the supers/frames harvested and then put back on for a 2nd harvest?
 
.
We have a beehive balance network in Finland and raspberry is just in bloom.
The best weight rise in one day is 16 kg = 36 lb.

http://www.mtt.fi/bees/kangasala_KM_10.htm

One part of the secret is that previous day was perhaps clowdy, because the rise was -2,5. On sunny day flowers had two days nectar to be colected.

Is this wild raspberry or commercial just curious finman as we have a lot of wild blackberry.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top