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Hive Weight

3K views 11 replies 6 participants last post by  Sundance 
#1 ·
What would 2 deeps of brood weigh on Feb 1st here in ND? Assume an average healthy colony. With migratory cover and SBB.

Thanks
 
#2 ·
Would that be a European honeybee or African honeybee? ;)

King Arthur: The swallow may fly south with the sun or the house martin or the plover may seek warmer climes in winter, yet these are
not strangers to our land?

1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?

King Arthur: Not at all. They could be carried.

1st soldier with a keen interest in birds:
What? A swallow carrying a coconut?

King Arthur: It could grip it by the husk!

1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: It's not a question of where he grips it! It's a simple question of weight ratios! A five
ounce bird could not carry a one pound coconut.

King Arthur: Well, it doesn't matter. Will you go and tell your master that Arthur from the Court of Camelot is here?

1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: Listen. In order to maintain air-speed velocity, a swallow needs to beat its wings forty-three times every second, right?

King Arthur: Please!

1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: Am I right?
 
#5 ·
Brood itself weighs "almost nothing".
Bees also weigh "almost nothing".
Even the wax would weigh more.

Stored honey on the brood frames would
swamp out the weight of all of the above.

While strain gauges and "load cells" are
available that can weigh loads with
"to the gram" accuracy, they cost hundreds
of dollars.

If we take the rule of thumb that "a pound of
bees" contains about 3500 to 4000 bees, and
assume that sealed brood weighs exactly as much
as a fully-grown bee, one might be able to
weigh empty equipment, weigh a fully-drawn
but empty frame, and do some math to figure out
the total weight of bees plus brood to within
a pound or so, but even 1-pound accuracy is
difficult to get without the same sort of
very expensive electronic scales.
 
#6 ·
I am going to do some pollination and need an at least semi-serious estimate.

As I am new to beekeeping I have no idea and look to the fine folks for a rough estimate (on the high side) so I can figure out how many double deeps my present double axle trailer can handle.

Thanks for the humor though.........
 
#7 ·
Sundance: That off-the-cuff- estimate I gave above was not totally frivilous....I based it on the average weight of sbb, 2 deeps with 10 frames of drawn comb each, migratory top, honey stores avg in ND in Feb (as you said) and estimated avg cluster in Feb. If you are asking this to estimate transport weight of, say, 100 colonies of that configuration, I'd give an educated guess of 6200-7000 pounds.....given the parameters you specified....

Bullseye - You're not too far away.....come visit...bring lots of mead!!!....if you're too busy to come visit, send the mead!!! Also the Tales of Camelot book!!
 
#9 ·
I think BB is in the ballpark. A "normal" semi load of double deeps is 408 hives, so within weight limits of 48,000 lbs. a load would average around 118 lbs. per hive, although some loads are considerably lighter. But I would think around 80 - 100 lbs. on Feb. 1 is about right.
 
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