Your hives last 5 years

[irishguy]

Me and another irish member have been chatting through PM (i hope your ok with me posting your PMs other member)

He was telling me his sucsess rates over the last few years and it got me thinking. Im curious to know how you got on in the last 5 years. I know with keeping bee's, you get good years and bad. Would love to know how you go on with yours and how much hives yous have.


Heres the PM and TBH, im abit disapointed at hearing this. I would have thought there wouldnt have been so much hic-ups along the way. It still not going to put me off with setting up my own hives thou because i love a challange and not to forget, doing my bit for mother nature.


2009-10 I had only one colony, I got it through the winter but when the queen restarted laying she was a drone layer so had to start again. 10lb honey

10-11 Bought a new nuc, split it and picked up a swarm. 3 colonies no noney

11-12 2 survived winter, built up to 5. no honey

12-13 All made it through the winter. The strongest starved in a week during the spring when there was no forage, I was feeding but not enough. Made it back up to 6. One did a late supercedure yielding a non laying queen, down to 5. One died out from a heavy varrroa infestation, down to 4. A weak one got decimated by wasp attacks, down to 3. 22lb honey

13-14 So I now have 3 colonies, one is so weak I just can't see it making the winter, the other 2 look to have a good chance but You really never know until the queen comes back into lay in the spring

....See. It's not all sunny days and buckets of honey, it's hard work, checking for swarm signs and taking preventative measures, disease and parasite (varroa) control, feeding, defending from wasps.

Get yourself 2 complete hives with bees, a spare roof, floor and crown board. A poly nuc or two could come in handy,

Pick your site well, this is the time of year to do it. Go out at midday and look for the sun, that is the direction you want your hives to be facing with no trees obstructing the sunlight. The sun only rises 17deg above the horizon and of duration 130deg (8:30am) to 230deg (4:30pm) make sure the spot is not in a frost pocket and you won't go too far wrong.

 

[scuttlefish]

Sod mother nature, do it for yourself, even when it's all going wrong it's worth it. I've gone from one hive to six in the past four years - lost a couple here and there over that time but overall each year is better than the last as I learn more and get better at it.

Where in Ireland are you?

 

[REDWOOD]

Starvation and disease are the most common factors of a colony collapsing
Make sure this does not happen to you
I don't know if Ireland runs a bee disease recognition course if they do It's well worth attending

 

[scuttlefish]

Starvation and disease are the most common factors of a colony collapsing
Make sure this does not happen to you
I don't know if Ireland runs a bee disease recognition course if they do It's well worth attending

Most local association beginner courses include a lecture on bee diseases & parasites; our association (and presumably most others) do at least one refresher lecture a year for members on bee diseases and current treatments (a lot of treatments available in the UK are not licensed in Ireland).

Beginner ineptitude is also a very common factor in losing colonies, at least it was in some of mine!

 

[Oscarmonster]

2011, bought 5 frame nuc. Split once, 110lbs.
2012, 3 hives, 140lbs.
2013, 4 hives, 300lbs + 4 hives overwintering on honey.
It doesn't have to be all doom and gloom and no honey, but there are so many variables to factor in. You can just never tell with bees.

 

[Cazza]

Been at this for 19 years. Never ever had no honey. Your mates history sounds pretty poor. Maybe they are unlucky. Cazza

 

[Swarm]

My first ever nuc swarmed by the end of June and we still had 55lbs off them.

 

[enrico]

Like cazza, I have never not had honey. I suppose my worst year was with one hive and I got about 12 lbs but the secret is to keep enough honey for two years. I use 1 lb a week, so in a good year I put 100 lbs by, if the next year is good too I can sell the surplus as long as I still start with 100 lbs. if I get none one year at least I know I will be ok! There us nothing worse than a beekeeper having to buy honey!!?
In a good year one hive can give you over 100 lbs. rarely do all your hives produce the same amount, in the same year another hive might give you 10 !
That is when you start trying to use offspring from the queens of your good hives to increase your stocks. It is not the amount of hives you have that matters, it is the strength of the hives that you have that counts. One good hive will outstrip five bad ones! And one bad beekeeper can lose everything!
E