I have a flow hive and Italian honey bees. How much honey will they produce?
In the first year? Probably nothing - you need to build up the colony. After that, 20-70lb per year, as long as you don’t have a drought, and you manage your bees properly. If you neglect them, as my friends did with 2 hives, they may even die in the first year. If you are unlucky, the same may happen. It all depends on how hard you try to understand the bees before you start taking their stores.
My bees will arrive in June. Will that be too late?
Too late for a harvest in 2016? Yes, very likely. Too late to survive? No, if you learn lot before then, and work hard at helping them to survive.
Should I be worried about them surviving winter.
It is hard to say if June will be too late, your profile doesn’t say where you are in the world. For the US if you are getting a Nuc you will probably be fine as they already have some comb and resources to work with. For a package it could be hit or miss. There is an old saying I have read, “A swarm in May is worth a load of hay; a swarm in June, a silver spoon; a swarm in July, let them fly” ~ Old Beekeeper Saying. So June would still be alright if you have good flow and conditions for them to build up.
Well, you still haven’t told me where in NM you are based. If you are in Albuquerque, they should be fine. If you are in the mountains near Santa Fe, they may have a harder time.
I’m in the plains region in eastern NM.
Well, without a city name, I can try to make a guess that your elevation is around 4,000ft. In that case the bees should be fine over winter, BUT you will very likely need a second brood box. The Flow hive only has one, and where the winters get cold, you will definitely need a second box for food stores, because the bees will not be able to forage much over winter. There are bee clubs in eastern NM, just depends on the town. I think that Portales, Clovis and Roswell have them, but before I put hours of work into looking, I need a better clue…
Dawn
I live in Clovis New Mexico.
Looks like your average highs in the winter are in the 50’s with lows getting down blow freezing. So you have what most beekeepers would consider a mild winter. The bees may even be able to get out and continue foraging through most of the colder months.
Where are you getting your bees? Is it a reputable local dealer?
I ordered from this website (http://wildflowermeadows.com/queen-bees-for-sale/)
It looks like they have May deliveries still available will you not be able to take a delivery before June?
Also unless I am missing it looks like they only sell queens. Are you planning to getting bees from from somewhere else?
Pacen,
You’ve received some great info thus far. Are you getting a 3 lbs package or Nuc (3,4 or 5 frame) startup in June.
Up here in Washington state … My 3 Nuc’s hopefully will arrive mid April. I have spent the winter making 3 complete double deep hive setups. Because our later Fall/winter/early Spring we will use double brood boxes. That gives our colony plenty of winter honey to get thru the winter. Our winters are not usually overly COLD but rather wet. We do not expect to get any honey until at least later season 2017.
Keep on going n prep wisely,
Gerald.
They aren’t selling Nuc’s this year and only have queen bees forsale, unless you have an established colony that need’s re-queening this won’t help.
I get my queens from them - great company. Didn’t know they sold packages or nucs though.
Build those hives up to at least double deep boxes for the brood nest and take care of the mites. You could do an oav treatment on them a week after you hive them and that will take care of all the mites that are likely to be shipped with your package. Good luck to you Pacen!
OK, so I can’t find the link that I thought showed a bee club, so I did the next best thing. I found a guy in your city who does live bee removals.
This guy keeps bees in your area, and removes them from unwanted locations for a living. It may be worth you giving him a call and seeing if you can join him on a bee removal. He may even be willing to give you some bees if you work hard and learn a lot from him! He will also know about local regulations and what you need to do to keep bees in your back yard. Be nice, and I am sure that he will help you out.
Paul Hopkins
Clovis, NM
Phone: 575-799-9642
Email: anasazi1@suddenlink.net
Comments: Honey bee swarm and hive removal: Free swarm removal. Established colonies removed. In most cases there is no charge for colony removal. If there is a charge it will depend on the amount of work involved, location, and distance traveled. Bees will be relocated to my bee yard. I will not kill bees.
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesexpectations.htm
You can expect something between -75 pounds (feeding sugar to make it up) and +200 pounds. But in reality it will depend on the forage, the colony decisions and a myriad of other factors…