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Still no stinking honey.

4K views 16 replies 14 participants last post by  dannyidp 
#1 ·
6 hives started last year, and the colonies are looking good, and will be well supplied for this winter. However there is no excess. I did not expect any the first year on these hives, but this season is a disappointment.
 
#5 ·
You say they are well supplied for winter, how much would you say each hive has stored? How much was left over last winter? If they have one super above the brood box, why not take one out of each super and that will give you over 30 lbs of honey. It is still enough time for them to replace that small of an amount if not more. That is what I would do, but just a suggestion.
 
#7 ·
Is there a dependable fall flow close by? Could you move the hives to make a surplus before winter. With beekeeping just 20-30 miles could make a big difference. You may need to ask some of the bigger local beeks where to move to.

Nantom does have a good point. You could take some of their honey and feed them to refill the lose. You still have plenty of time for that.
 
#8 ·
... there is no excess. I did not expect any the first year on these hives, but this season is a disappointment.
You think your hives are doing bad?.... I have 4 hives, and collectively about 4-5 gallons of honey.. Not excess honey but total honey... It's been a disastrous year up here for the girls. Way too much cold and rain...
It has been cold and wet with a delayed Spring and Summer all over the Pacific North West. Here in the Gulf South East the opposite is the case with an early hot and dry spring and summer. The results are both the same, little liquid gold. All I can say is welcome to the world of agriculture. An old cotton planter gave me this sage advice and I want to share it with all on this forum.

"If you are farming and have a poor crop year it requires two years of good crops just to get over one bad year."

"If on the other hand if you have a year with bumper crops coupled with high crop prices it requires 10 years in a row of good crops just to recover from one year of fabulous crops. The reason being that with bumper crops and high prices the natural tendency is to go so deeply in debt for land and new equipment that it will require 10 years of hard work if ever for you to climb out of the hole and claw your way back to even with the bank."

Thank the Bee Gods for your good fortune and offer up a small burnt sacrifice in the honey Gods' honor.
 
#9 ·
As of now 5 of the 6 have the second deep is 50% full of nectar or capped honey, they are moving down into the lower box. Number 6 is light and has never taken off like the others. The 3 hives I started this year are not to far behind the existing ones, but they got fed in the spring. I did take about 1/3 of a frame of honey to taste, and it is delicious, very "fruity".
This year "summer" did not start until July. It may just be the year, I did notice the commercial guys pulled out their hives earlier than last year. I guess they could be moving to better lots, or they did much better than me.
 
#10 ·
240 lbs extracted on 3 out of 4 hives this spring - now it's payback time. Pollen & no nectar & eating stores - Time to mix up some sugar for a few months ahead.
 
#12 ·
Many factors other than the weather influence the honey crop.
Bees. you need lots of bees,at the right time,just before the flow. Do your hives come out of winter healthy and raring to go? Do you feed pollen patties and syrup to build up the population before the flow? Does your queen(bee race) slow down laying at the end of the flow or does she keep on laying and all those bees eat up your profit during the dearth.And don't let your bees swarm.there goes your surplus.

Location. You won't get much honey from a pine forest,or from an agricultural area that's planted from fence to fence.You need a diversity of bee forage that flowers for a long period of time.Abandoned farm land,pasture that's not overgrazed.Weeds,weeds and more weeds.What kinds of honey plants do you have and when do they bloom.
"the commercial guys pulled out their hives" Why? no flow? where did they go?
Try other areas. Friends ,relatives.Drive around. Check Google Earth. Talk to the "commercial guys"

Give the hives plenty of supers before the flow.It stimulates them. If the brood nest gets backfilled with nectar,the queen can't lay and the hive might swarm.Just remember to remove unused supers before the end of the flow so the bees will fill the bottom supers completely.

Harvest your honey and feed for winter stores.Bees winter fine on sugar as long as the have time to cure it. Honey is money and sugar is cheaper.

Just don't give up.
 
#13 ·
Bees. you need lots of bees,at the right time,just before the flow. Do your hives come out of winter healthy and raring to go? Do you feed pollen patties and syrup to build up the population before the flow? Does your queen(bee race) slow down laying at the end of the flow or does she keep on laying and all those bees eat up your profit during the dearth.And don't let your bees swarm.there goes your surplus.
No I did not feed, we get a great spring flow, and they built up well, double deeps, mostly full. I think you nailed it, they did not slow down and probably ate all the excess building strong through out the summer. Any recommendations on breeds that will slow down better?

Location. You won't get much honey from a pine forest,or from an agricultural area that's planted from fence to fence.You need a diversity of bee forage that flowers for a long period of time.Abandoned farm land,pasture that's not overgrazed.Weeds,weeds and more weeds.What kinds of honey plants do you have and when do they bloom.
I am in flood irrigated range land, there is plenty of clover and weeds throughout the summer(June-Sept). In the spring there is a monster willow and dandelion bloom(March-April). Early summer the Russian Olives and fruit trees are strong (late May). I think there is plenty of forage. We also live 1/4 from a mile from a small town, so we also get all the gardens, flowerbeds and fruit trees there.
Give the hives plenty of supers before the flow.It stimulates them. If the brood nest gets backfilled with nectar,the queen can't lay and the hive might swarm.Just remember to remove unused supers before the end of the flow so the bees will fill the bottom supers completely.
Good advice, I tried but they just won't draw out wax in the supers. Next year I am thinking of placing the supers between the deeps until it is drawn an than move them up.
 
#14 ·
Fairly slow season here in Corvallis as well, with the cool, rainy June. I fed in-hive until mid May then open-fed until mid June. My strongest hive (started from a nuc in mid April) ate up most of their stores by the end of June, then finally started hauling honey. They are still going and I *might* get a full super from them, though it will have a lot of Queen Anne's Lace so it may literally be "stinking honey" if I believe some of the older beeks around here.

I just talked to my uncle in MN who reported a bumper basswood crop - estimated around 600 pounds from seven hives...
 
#15 ·
Luterra,

I have hives that are not that far from you (Elmira) and they all started bringing in wildflower honey in May and finished by early July and averaged 85lb/hive. For some reason blackberries didn't really add as much as usual this year. It is very dark honey this year.

Rio,

Growing up we had 24-40 hives in (a couple of miles outside the city limits) Cove. They were for pollination and my Dad didn't really care about honey. They were in a cultivated cherry orchard surrounded on three sides by pine/fir forest and the other side by pasture land. I don't think that we ever added honey supers. Dad's idea was to get pollination and not have to feed the bees. We had cut comb out of the hives but I think that they mostly brought in enough honey to support brood and the winter season and that was about it. It sounds like you are in a better area than we were for possible honey production. Being near a town will be the key though. I suspect that the spring flow will be used to support the hive buildup.
 
#16 ·
I wouldn't put the super between the brood boxes,they would fill it with brood.
Put the super on at or just before dandilion bloom.If you have any drawn comb,alternate with foundation.

I like Russians;build up fast and seem to overwinter on less.
I feed pollen and a little 1:1 when the soft maples bloom.
Watch for swarming
 
#17 ·
I will have to say that I have one hive that has not made any surplus honey in three years.they were carni Italian mix, and this was there last year I re-queened them a few weeks ago.

My other hives all done well but this one, would draw out comb fast fill up a super fast but never capped the honey.I would pull my supers off my other hives and when i got to this hive all the honey was gone three years in a row,and no this hive was not robbed if anything they were the robbers lol.They were some very aggressive bees, hive beetles would not even touch this hive.
 
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