Yearly Honey

[Sam-Smith]

Was wondering how many hobbyists/small keepers are keeping logs of their tbh honey production? I know tbh would be somewhat lower then a lang hive but it would be nice to get some numbers, I wouldn't give up tbh just because of 20% lower yield.
I have read that the yield can be almost the same if the honey space is managed. I think feral bees store about 40 to 60lbs of honey in their nests so maby if unmanaged that is were they stop?
Location and season play a huge role in honey production, this year is not that great for production, sumer is just to cold and rainy atm, lots of sweet clover blooming though I started this year so probably no harvest.

Sam.

[luvin honey]

I've pulled about 5 lb of honey plus about 3 lb of comb to make room to hopefully prevent swarming. Good idea to keep track--I will try to remember to do so! I would like to try foundationless Langstroths this year or next to do a side-by-side comparison of the 2 methods.

[LenInNorCal]

As I understand it, if you put an empty bar in the middle of the brood chamber occasionally, then the bees probably won't swarm. If you harvest honey with the idea of preventing a swarm then that may not work as well. I read that is how Mr Bush does it so I tried it on the two most prolific TBHs and they did not swarm but rather built a ton of brood.

[luvin honey]

Yes, I believe you are right. I didn't fully explain the rest. I pulled the honey to make room in the topbar hive for me to add empty bars into the broodnest.