G’day folks. Just a quick question from a newby. We are in SE Qld, near Toowoomba , on half an acre in a small village.We didn’t get going until late October and then hit a really hot dry spell, so the new girls struggled a bit.We have 2 hives (about to set up a third), Number one is very healthy and full of bees, the second is still getting going and we won’t rob it until next spring. Just harvested two frames, as they were getting pretty full and wanted to make sure we don’t leave them short for winter. They are still bringing in heaps of pollen as we have flowering shrubs and trees all around us. I was wondering if anyone can tell me what I should get per frame. We got 2.6 kgs, of the sweetest honey, with a slight cinnamon flavour. Does that volume sound about right? Thanks for your help, Gazza
2.6kg in each frame?
I also got my first nuc end November, first flow frame harvest beginning Feb.
up to now I had 26kg from that flow hive. 2.6kg is quite the norm if the frame is harvested the first time. The most I got out of a flow frame (2nd harvest) was 3.8kg. But usually they are around 3.3 to 3.4kg now.
I got digital scales for my birthday a few months back, so the measurements are accurate.
Can’t wait to put the flow boxes on my new bees. Just letting them build up and overwinter, they look like they want the supers now, but I guess even in Byron Shire that would stretch them.
I have a tradtional langstroth hive and that’s what I get per frame too. I am in Buderim on the Sunshine Coast.
Thank you Webclan and Julia
Hi Julia, great to find on the Forum:) There can only be one Julia in Buderim with 2 Langstroth hives. I hope that bee didn’t get you the other day as I was leaving, and that your extracting went well.
Hi Jeff
Thanks for the heads up on the forum and for your help on Friday. Ha ha yes she was giving me grief at the clothes line after you left !
Julia
Hi & you are most welcome Julia:)
I have a couple of colonies making new queens at the same time as yours, we’ll see if they are successful this time of year. We picked up a colony from a cubby house the other day. Sadly the queen got left behind, so that colony will be making a new queen. Plus another nuc I made after selling a colony yesterday.
Hi @JeffH. I have been reading about bees a bit, and when I saw your post, my old question came up again: why are there no queens available in our warm winters? Summers in other countries can be as cold as our winters.
I suppose the reason that our queens stop laying and drones are thrown out is genetic.
Be it as it may, fact is, queens going on mating flights now or in a couple of weeks won’t find as great a number of drones as in summer. This results in not so well mated queens, which in turn results in less diversity in job distribution within the hive.
Is that your observation over the years?
Would you look at exchanging the queen in spring?
I start understanding why queen breeders stop breeding now.
Hi @Webclan, I guess everything happens much slower this time of year compared to the spring time when the days are lengthening & loads of pollen are coming in.
I have never witnessed queens ceasing to lay or drones being evicted.
I must confess that I haven’t noticed any change in any of the queen’s performance after a winter mating. Or her progeny’s performance for that matter.
No, I would never contemplate changing any of my winter mated queens, unless I had a good reason to.
Thanks for your observations JeffH. This will be my first winter, lapping up information. It would be interesting to see if this queen will mate and how her hive will be doing. I assume with your number of hives it is much harder to keep track into the future. And she may even get superseded.
So, if you had an 8 frame box full of active bees now, requeened a few weeks ago, would you put a second brood box on, or even a super if they are going well? Or will they slow down enough?
I’m asking you because of our similar climate and the days should really fine up soon. We sure still have a flow on. So much so that not many bees are even in the bloomin’ golden penda. They bring in so many different colored pollen.
Hi @Webclan, if the bees are moving into the lid after filling all the frames, I would put the honey super on. The best way to insure the bees fill every frame before moving into the lid is to use a vinyl mat, which you may already have.
I don’t think you’ll do any harm adding a super. I would reduce the entrance & face it away from the cold westerlies.
Wow, the Golden Penders are in flower down there also!! They are putting on a good display up here as well. The native bees absolutely love them. Sadly I heavily pruned mine because it hasn’t performed. I think it would have this time because the few branches I didn’t prune are in flower. I’ll just have to be happy with enjoying other people’s while driving around.